Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026

Lonza Ltd.

Technology area: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals

22 pending office actions • 16 art units • 19 examiners • 0 of 22 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 22 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Lonza Ltd. has 21 pending office actions in the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. These actions span 15 distinct art units. The company works with 18 distinct examiners, which means that most of the 21 pending office actions are being reviewed by different individuals at the patent office. This high number of art units relative to the actions indicates a very broad technical portfolio.

TRAN, CHRISTINA L is the busiest examiner, managing 3 pending office actions. The remaining actions are distributed among other examiners. This distribution, where 18 distinct examiners handle 21 pending office actions, results in limited examiner overlap. With 15 distinct art units involved, practitioners must address the technical requirements of the 15 distinct art units. The portfolio involves 18 distinct examiners, requiring the company to manage these individual relationships simultaneously. Maintaining a cohesive strategy across 15 different specialized groups will be a key challenge for the prosecution team.

Written from this page's own data; every figure is computed from USPTO records and verified before publication.

Portfolio Summary

22
Total Pending OAs
10
Non-Final OAs
9
Final Rejections
3
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 8 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

3
Overdue
2
Due this week
2
Due this month
1
Due in next 60 days
0
Due later

Deadline Fire Line

Every pending office action with a known statutory deadline, placed on a days-until-due axis. Dots left of Today are overdue; the further right, the more runway. Cases that share a deadline window stack vertically. 8 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (3)Due ≤ 7 days (2)Due ≤ 30 days (2)Due ≤ 60 days (1)

Case Difficulty Mix

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.

4
Hard (18%)
17
Medium (77%)
1
Easy (5%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 + other2 (9%)
§103 only9 (41%)
§112 only1 (5%)
Double-patenting + other8 (36%)
Multi-statute (no §101)2 (9%)

Industry Mix

How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.

21
Life Sciences
95% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
0
Mechanical / Eng
0% of docket
1
Business / Other
5% of docket

Time-on-OA Estimate

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.

220 h
Manual time on pending OAs
44 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
77 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
1.9 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
TRAN, CHRISTINA L 3 51.6% +48.2%
MCCORMICK, CATHERINE LYNN 2 50.0% +42.5%
WESTON, ALYSSA G 1 59.8% +50.9%
VANHORN, ABIGAIL LOUISE 1 46.8% +22.4%
PAK, YONG D 1 74.6% +14.3%
MIANO, JOSEPH PAUL 1 36.0% +63.3%
MEAH, MOHAMMAD Y 1 70.8% +42.7%
LEVIN, JOEL D 1 58.1% +35.2%
COUNTS, GARY W 1 58.9% +29.5%
KRISHNAN, GANAPATHY 1 52.8% +1.1%

Hard Cases (4)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 4 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17635298 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES WITH ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDES TARGETING KRAS ALLEN, SARAH ELIZABETH 47d
18780030 METHODS OF CELL SELECTION AND MODIFYING CELL METABOLISM PAK, YONG D —
18462800 METHOD FOR PRODUCING BIOLOGIC PRODUCT VARIANTS MIANO, JOSEPH PAUL —
17906177 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES FOR TREATING NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS LEE, JIA-HAI —

Interview Candidates (12)

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 8 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
17635322 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE-ASO CONSTRUCTS TARGETING STAT6 TRAN, CHRISTINA L 7d
17776932 METHODS OF CELL SELECTION LEVIN, JOEL D 29d
18938929 QUALITY CONTROL METHODS FOR AUTOMATED CELL PROCESSING WESTON, ALYSSA G —
18300994 METHODS FOR NUCLEAR REPROGRAMMING USING SYNTHETIC TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS MCCORMICK, CATHERINE LYNN —
18063982 METHODS FOR PRODUCING IMMUNE CELL CULTURES VANHORN, ABIGAIL LOUISE —
18780030 METHODS OF CELL SELECTION AND MODIFYING CELL METABOLISM PAK, YONG D —
18462800 METHOD FOR PRODUCING BIOLOGIC PRODUCT VARIANTS MIANO, JOSEPH PAUL —
18454930 CARBON-SOURCE REGULATED PROTEIN PRODUCTION IN A RECOMBINANT HOST CELL MEAH, MOHAMMAD Y —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1637 4
1638 2
1652 2
1636 1
1631 1
1633 1
1678 1
1693 1
1612 1
1658 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18938929 QUALITY CONTROL METHODS FOR AUTOMATED CELL PROCESSING WESTON, ALYSSA G — §103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 06, 2024
18300994 METHODS FOR NUCLEAR REPROGRAMMING USING SYNTHETIC TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS MCCORMICK, CATHERINE LYNN 1638 §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 14, 2023
18063982 METHODS FOR PRODUCING IMMUNE CELL CULTURES VANHORN, ABIGAIL LOUISE 1636 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 09, 2022
18780030 METHODS OF CELL SELECTION AND MODIFYING CELL METABOLISM PAK, YONG D 1652 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 22, 2024
18462800 METHOD FOR PRODUCING BIOLOGIC PRODUCT VARIANTS MIANO, JOSEPH PAUL 1631 §101§102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 07, 2023
18454930 CARBON-SOURCE REGULATED PROTEIN PRODUCTION IN A RECOMBINANT HOST CELL MEAH, MOHAMMAD Y 1652 §103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 24, 2023
17776932 METHODS OF CELL SELECTION LEVIN, JOEL D 1633 §103 Final Rejection 29d Pending May 13, 2022
17735555 COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR THE DETECTION OF HOST CELL PROTEINS COUNTS, GARY W 1678 §103 Final Rejection — Pending May 03, 2022
17434442 Purification Process for Biological Molecules Such as Plasmid DNA Using Anionic Exchange Chromatography KRISHNAN, GANAPATHY 1693 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 27, 2021
18546131 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE LINKED TO A BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE MOLECULE VIA AN OPTIMIZED LINKER AND AN ANCHORING MOIETY LEWOCZKO, EVAN MICHAEL 1612 §103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 11, 2023
17906177 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES FOR TREATING NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS LEE, JIA-HAI 1658 §101§102§103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Aug 01, 2023
18246312 PROCESS FOR PREPARING EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES ROYCE, LIAM A 1777 §103 Final Rejection 7d Pending Mar 22, 2023
18246301 PROCESS FOR PREPARING EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES BREWSTER, HAYDEN R 1779 §103 Final Rejection 44d overdue Pending Mar 22, 2023
18057709 COMPOSITIONS OF ENGINEERED EXOSOMES AND METHODS OF LOADING LUMINAL EXOSOMES PAY-LOADS CARTER, SANDRA DILLAHUNT 1674 §112 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 21, 2022
18050017 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE-ASO CONSTRUCTS TARGETING STAT6 TRAN, CHRISTINA L 1637 §103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Oct 26, 2022
17757345 AUTOMATED PRODUCTION OF VIRAL VECTORS MCCORMICK, CATHERINE LYNN 1638 §103 Final Rejection — Pending Jun 14, 2022
17635315 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES WITH STAT3-ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDES TRAN, CHRISTINA L 1637 §103 Final Rejection — Pending Feb 14, 2022
17635322 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE-ASO CONSTRUCTS TARGETING STAT6 TRAN, CHRISTINA L 1637 §103§112DP Final Rejection 7d Pending Feb 14, 2022
17635298 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES WITH ANTISENSE OLIGONUCLEOTIDES TARGETING KRAS ALLEN, SARAH ELIZABETH 1637 §102§103§112 Non-Final OA 47d Pending Feb 14, 2022
17634897 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE LINKED TO MOLECULES AND USES THEREOF MEJIAS, SAMANTHA LEE 1618 §103DP Final Rejection 3d overdue Pending Feb 11, 2022
17441162 EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE CONJUGATES AND USES THEREOF ANTHOPOLOS, PETER 1611 §103§112DP Non-Final OA 17d overdue Pending Sep 20, 2021
17293833 ENGINEERED EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES AND USES THEREOF ESPINOSA, CLAUDIA EDILMA 1654 §103§112DP Final Rejection 13d Pending May 13, 2021

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