Technology area: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals
3 pending office actions • 3 art units • 3 examiners • 0 of 3 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 2 patents granted in the last 365 days
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is managing 4 pending office actions in the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. These actions are distributed among 4 distinct examiners and 3 distinct art units. This distribution shows that the company's pharmaceutical innovations are being evaluated by a diverse group of examiners across multiple specialized units within the biotechnology sector. The involvement of 3 distinct art units indicates that the pending office actions cover a range of specific biological or chemical sub-fields.
The busiest examiner is ARNOLD, ERNST V, who has 1 pending office action. Because every pending matter is assigned to a different person, each case is being reviewed by a different individual. This requires the applicant to adapt to different examiner styles while coordinating responses across the various art units. The lack of examiner overlap means that successful strategies used with one examiner may not directly translate to the others, necessitating a customized approach for each of the 1 pending office action cases.
Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 1 (33%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (33%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 1 (33%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| ARNOLD, ERNST V | 1 | 48.2% | +12.8% |
| CHO, DAVID H | 1 | 31.9% | +67.0% |
| BASQUILL, SEAN M | 1 | 38.8% | +21.7% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 1 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18719012 | NITRIC OXIDE-RELEASING NASAL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF | ARNOLD, ERNST V | — |
Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18719012 | NITRIC OXIDE-RELEASING NASAL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF | ARNOLD, ERNST V | — |
| 18706719 | CYCLIC PHOSPHORAMIDATE COMPOUNDS | CHO, DAVID H | — |
| 17675654 | TOPICAL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME | BASQUILL, SEAN M | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 1613 | 1 |
| 1693 | 1 |
| 1614 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18719012 | NITRIC OXIDE-RELEASING NASAL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF | ARNOLD, ERNST V | 1613 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jun 12, 2024 |
| 18706719 | CYCLIC PHOSPHORAMIDATE COMPOUNDS | CHO, DAVID H | 1693 | §102§103§112DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 01, 2024 |
| 17675654 | TOPICAL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME | BASQUILL, SEAN M | 1614 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Feb 18, 2022 |
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Start Free TrialLigand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has 3 pending office actions as of October 2026, spread across 3 art units and 3 examiners.
Ernst V Arnold has the most, with 1 of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated's pending office actions.
Mostly Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals (USPTO Tech Center 1600), based on where its pending office actions are examined.
