Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026

Natera Inc.

Technology area: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals

17 pending office actions • 7 art units • 12 examiners • 0 of 17 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 26 patents granted in the last 365 days

Portfolio Summary

17
Total Pending OAs
9
Non-Final OAs
8
Final Rejections
0
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 5 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

4
Overdue
0
Due this week
1
Due this month
0
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. 5 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.

-30dToday30d60d90d120d
Overdue (4)Due ≤ 30 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.

3
Hard (18%)
11
Medium (65%)
3
Easy (18%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 + other2 (12%)
§103 only5 (29%)
§102 only1 (6%)
§112 only2 (12%)
Double-patenting only1 (6%)
Double-patenting + other5 (29%)
Multi-statute (no §101)1 (6%)

Industry Mix

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

14
Life Sciences
82% of docket
0
Information Tech
0% of docket
0
Communications
0% of docket
0
Semiconductors
0% of docket
0
Mechanical / Eng
0% of docket
3
Business / Other
18% 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.

170 h
Manual time on pending OAs
34 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
59 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
1.5 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
MUMMERT, STEPHANIE KANE 3 61.2% +21.4%
FLINDERS, JEREMY C 2 63.5% +16.7%
PRIEST, AARON A 2 61.3% +25.7%
GIAMMONA, FRANCESCA FILIPPA 2 37.5% +57.4%
YU, TIAN NMN 1 55.1% +20.4%
GREENE, CAROLYN LEE 1 65.3% +47.3%
FONSECA LOPEZ, FRANCINI ALVARENGA 1 29.6% +37.1%
YOUNG, BRIAN ELLIS 1 65.8% +24.8%
BERTAGNA, ANGELA MARIE 1 44.7% +46.3%
BAILEY, STEVEN WILLIAM 1 31.6% +15.2%

Hard Cases (3)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 3 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18220183 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING BERTAGNA, ANGELA MARIE 22d overdue
18372565 METHODS FOR ALLELE CALLING AND PLOIDY CALLING FONSECA LOPEZ, FRANCINI ALVARENGA —
17692469 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS BAILEY, STEVEN WILLIAM —

Interview Candidates (15)

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
18220183 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING BERTAGNA, ANGELA MARIE 22d overdue
18227224 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING PRIEST, AARON A 17d overdue
18227219 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING PRIEST, AARON A 15d overdue
19463001 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS FLINDERS, JEREMY C —
19463003 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS FLINDERS, JEREMY C —
19449295 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS YU, TIAN NMN —
19399491 METHODS FOR TARGETED SEQUENCING OF CELL-FREE DNA MUMMERT, STEPHANIE KANE —
18733471 METHODS FOR SIMULTANEOUS AMPLIFICATION OF TARGET LOCI MUMMERT, STEPHANIE KANE —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1681 7
1684 2
1637 1
1672 1
1687 1
1686 1
1682 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
19463001 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS FLINDERS, JEREMY C 1684 §102§103DP Final Rejection — Pending Jan 28, 2026
19463003 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS FLINDERS, JEREMY C 1684 §103§112DP Final Rejection — Pending Jan 28, 2026
19449295 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS YU, TIAN NMN 1681 §102§103§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 14, 2026
19399491 METHODS FOR TARGETED SEQUENCING OF CELL-FREE DNA MUMMERT, STEPHANIE KANE 1681 §112Other Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 24, 2025
18733471 METHODS FOR SIMULTANEOUS AMPLIFICATION OF TARGET LOCI MUMMERT, STEPHANIE KANE — §103Other Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 04, 2024
18680693 METHODS FOR DETECTION OF DONOR-DERIVED CELL-FREE DNA GREENE, CAROLYN LEE — §112DP Non-Final OA — Pending May 31, 2024
18632703 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CLEANING NOISY GENETIC DATA AND DETERMINING CHROMOSOME COPY NUMBER MUMMERT, STEPHANIE KANE 1637 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Apr 11, 2024
18372565 METHODS FOR ALLELE CALLING AND PLOIDY CALLING FONSECA LOPEZ, FRANCINI ALVARENGA — §101§112DP Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 25, 2023
18227786 METHODS FOR AMPLIFICATION OF CELL-FREE DNA USING LIGATED ADAPTORS AND UNIVERSAL AND INNER TARGET-SPECIFIC PRIMERS FOR MULTIPLEXED NESTED PCR YOUNG, BRIAN ELLIS 1672 DP Non-Final OA — Pending Jul 28, 2023
18227219 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING PRIEST, AARON A 1681 §102DP Final Rejection 15d overdue Pending Jul 27, 2023
18227224 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING PRIEST, AARON A 1681 §102 Final Rejection 17d overdue Pending Jul 27, 2023
18220183 METHODS FOR NON-INVASIVE PRENATAL PLOIDY CALLING BERTAGNA, ANGELA MARIE 1681 §103§112 Final Rejection 22d overdue Pending Jul 10, 2023
17925693 METHODS FOR DETECTION OF DONOR-DERIVED CELL-FREE DNA GIAMMONA, FRANCESCA FILIPPA 1681 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Nov 16, 2022
17692469 DETECTING MUTATIONS AND PLOIDY IN CHROMOSOMAL SEGMENTS BAILEY, STEVEN WILLIAM 1687 §101§103DP Final Rejection — Pending Mar 11, 2022
17465424 Systems and Methods for Detection of Aneuploidy NEGIN, RUSSELL SCOTT 1686 §112 Final Rejection 13d Pending Sep 02, 2021
17413464 METHODS FOR ANALYSIS OF CIRCULATING CELLS GIAMMONA, FRANCESCA FILIPPA 1681 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 11, 2021
16309271 COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR DETECTION OF NUCLEIC ACID MUTATIONS SALMON, KATHERINE D 1682 §103 Final Rejection 1d overdue Pending Dec 12, 2018

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