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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1-5 are pending.
Claims 1-5 have been examined.
Claims 1-5 are rejected.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 09/19/2024 are accepted.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in TW on 09/10/2024 (application 113134186). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 09/19/2024 and 07/08/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Luo et al. (“Luo”) (IDS: Adv. Mater. 2024, 36, 2404830, published: 06/26/2024).
In regard to claims 1-5, the reference teaches an oral vaccine for enhancing cancer immunotherapy (see Title), comprising: a complex of β-glucan and mRNA (see Title), comprising a coding region of a tumor antigen (see Table 1; Figure 1, inter alia); and lipid nanoparticles, encapsulating the complex of β-glucan and mRNA (see Abstract; page 2); wherein the β-glucan is derived from yeast (see page 2, column 2); wherein a molar ratio of glucose units of the β-glucan to nucleotide bases of the mRNA is 15:1 to 120:1 (see Table 1); wherein a material of the lipid nanoparticles comprises heptadecan-9-yl 8-((2-hydroxyethyl)(6-oxo-6-(undecyloxy)hexyl)amino)octanoate (also known as SM-102) (see Section 4), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (also known as DSPC), cholesterol (C27 H46 O) (see Section 4), and 1,2-dimyristoyl-rac-glycero-3-methoxypolyethylene glycol-2000 (also known as DMG-PEG 2000) (see Section 4); and wherein a particle size of the lipid nanoparticles is 50 nm to 200 nm (see Table 1; Section 2.2, paragraph 3), corresponding to instant claims 1-5. Accordingly, the reference anticipates claims 1-5.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALI M ALAOUIE whose telephone number is 571-272-0844. The examiner can normally be reached Flextime: (M-TH) 7:30 am 6:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ali Soroush can be reached at 571-272-9925. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, vis it: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent -center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ALI M. ALAOUIE/Examiner, Art Unit 1614
/Robert A Wax/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1615
Prosecution Insights