DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-12, 14 and 18 are pending. Claims 11-12 are rejected. Claims 2-10 are objected to. Claims 1, 14 and 18 are allowable.
Priority
This application is a 35 U.S.C. 371 National Stage Filing of International Application No. PCT/EP2023/055838 filed 03/08/2023, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a-d) to EP 22161258.3, filed 03/10/2022. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) dated 06/24/2026 has been considered.
Claim Objections
Claims 2-10 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The claims refer to claim 1 which recites “A compound of Formula (I)”. Accordingly, the dependent claims should be amended as follows: “[[A]]The compound according to claim 1,…”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "wherein n is 0 or 1" in the first two lines of the paragraph after Formula B2. However, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim since there is no structure that uses a variable “n”. Applicant may amend the claim to delete the limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(d)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claim 12 is in improper form because a multiple dependent claim should refer to other claims in the alternative only. See MPEP § 608.01(n). Applicant may amend the claim such that it depends only from one claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-12, 14 and 18 are free of the prior art.
The closest prior art is from Bhattacharyya et al. in WO 2019/005980 and Reynolds et al. in WO 2021/207550, both of which are cited in the IDS dated 06/24/2026.
Reynolds et al. in ‘550 teach compounds of formula (I),
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, that may be used to treat Huntington’s disease among other diseases and conditions as indicated in claims 75 and 80 on pages 292-293. Compounds 211 and 212 on page 84 for instance,
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, are nearly embraced by instant formula (I) of claim 1,
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, wherein A1 is N, A2 is N, R2 is C1 alkyl, and R3 is C1 alkyl. The prior art compounds differ at least in that the azaspiro ring has an additional nitrogen atom present, and the
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fused bicyclic of the instant claims is instead a
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bicyclic. The prior art compounds are therefore novel. Additionally, there is no suggestion or teaching that would motivate a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the compounds in such a way as to identify the presently claimed compounds nor any process of preparing or using said compounds. Therefore, the instant claims are both novel and nonobvious.
Bhattacharyya et al. in ‘980 teaches compounds of Formula (I)
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for treating or ameliorating Huntington’s disease. See abstract and last paragraph of page 1. Compound 641,
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, on page 101 for instance is nearly embraced by instant formula (I) of claim 1,
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, wherein A1 is N, A2 is N, and R2 is H. The prior art compounds differ at least in that there is no azaspiro ring in the prior art compounds and the 9-membered fused heterocycle has a different attachment point. The prior art compounds are therefore novel. Additionally, there is no suggestion or teaching that would motivate a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the compounds in such a way as to identify the presently claimed compounds nor any process of preparing or using said compounds. Therefore, the instant claims are both novel and nonobvious.
Contact Information
Claims 11-12 are rejected. Claims 1-10, 14 and 18 are allowable.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jalisa H. Ferguson whose telephone number is (703)756-1489. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/J.H.F./Examiner, Art Unit 1626
/REBECCA L ANDERSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1626
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