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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/10/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 21–23 and 25–37 are under examination.
Following receipt of the 07/10/2026 IDS, prosecution is hereby re-opened. Examiner finds that the NPL “Boll” submitted 07/10/2026 necessitates Applicant’s consideration as combined with Bennett, detailed below, prior to a Notice of Allowance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code 103 not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 21–23 and 25–37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bennett (US 5,802,439) in view of Boll (Production of actinium-225 for alpha particle mediated radioimmunotherapy [submitted via IDS]).
Regarding claim 21, Bennet discloses a system for generating radioisotopes comprising: one or more containers (22), including a first container, the first container containing source material (molybdenum) that includes at least one target material (100Mo, col. 14, l. 24); a radiation generator (leftward-facing triangle within 12 that generates electrons 14); a radiation bombardment chamber (12) that receives radiation (photons 20) from the radiation generator, the radiation bombardment chamber adapted to hold and expose the one or more containers (22) to the received radiation (20), thereby creating at least some first radioisotopes (99Mo) that are a direct product of the exposure of the target material to the radiation (99Mo is generated from the 100Mo target, col. 14, ll. 22-24); a mechanism to transfer an extraction material (solvent HNO3, col. 14, l. 38) into the first container (same container now labeled as 24), thereby contacting the source material (molybdenum) within the first container (24) with the extraction material (HNO3), the extraction material selected to dissolve, without dissolving the target material, one or more of: the at least some first radioisotopes (99Mo), a second radioisotope that is a daughter product of the at least some first radioisotopes, or both the at least some first radioisotopes and the second radioisotope, thereby generating a dissolved radioisotope; and an extraction component (not labeled but necessarily present as described in col. 14, ll. 43-45 and shown as leftward arrow from 26 to 30, including a new container surrounding 30 that receives the extraction) adapted to remove the extraction material with the dissolved radioisotope (extraction material + dissolved 99Mo = 30) from the first container (24) without removing the target material from the first container (99Mo is dissolved and removed, leaving the undissolved target material behind, to produce the product of a “dried 99Mo compound [that] consists of 99MoO3,” col. 14, l. 53).
Bennett does not explicitly state that the mechanism is an insertion component.
Boll does.
Boll is in the same art area of radioisotope production and teaches an insertion component to transfer HNO3 material into a container (“The separation of [desired radioisotopes] is achieved using the marcoporous [sic] anion exchange resin MP1 in 8M HNO3 media. Two sequential MP1/NO3 columns provide a separation factor of ~106 for [the desired radioisotopes],” abstract).
The ordinary skilled artisan would have been, prior to the effective filing date of the invention, motivated to utilize the insertion component such as the exchange column as suggested by Boll using HNO3 media, as does Bennett, in order to insert the extraction material into the container to obtain the desired radioisotopes.
Any claim not specifically addressed in this section that depends from a rejected claim is also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 for its dependency upon an above–rejected claim and for the same reasons.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LILY C GARNER whose telephone number is (571)272-9587. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5 CT.
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LILY CRABTREE GARNER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3646
/LILY C GARNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646
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