Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 04, 2026

Paul Scherrer Institut

Technology areas: Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals • Chemistry & Materials

10 pending office actions • 4 art units • 10 examiners • 0 of 10 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 4 patents granted in the last 365 days

Analysis

Paul Scherrer Institut currently faces 10 pending office actions in the Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals technology area. These 10 actions are distributed among 10 distinct examiners, showing a high degree of examiner diversity. Despite this volume, the work is concentrated within 4 distinct art units. MCAVOY, ELLEN M is the busiest examiner, yet handles only 1 pending action.

This distribution suggests that the institute's prosecution is fragmented across many individuals, even though the subject matter remains within the 4 distinct art units. For a practitioner, this fragmentation means that there is no examiner whose historical patterns will dominate the portfolio's outcome. Instead, the strategy must account for the different perspectives across the art units. The fact that the busiest examiner only manages 1 action highlights the distribution of the workload.

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

Portfolio Summary

10
Total Pending OAs
6
Non-Final OAs
3
Final Rejections
1
Advisory / Quayle

Response Deadline Pressure

Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 2 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.

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

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.

5
Hard (50%)
5
Medium (50%)
0
Easy (0%)
0
Unknown (0%)

Rejection Statute Mix

BucketCases
§101 + other1 (10%)
§103 only4 (40%)
Double-patenting + other1 (10%)
Multi-statute (no §101)4 (40%)

Industry Mix

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

7
Life Sciences
70% 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
30% 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.

100 h
Manual time on pending OAs
20 h
Time saved (low, 20%)
35 h
Time saved (mid, 35%)
0.9 wks
FTE-weeks freed (mid)

Top Examiners on this docket

ExaminerApps on this docketAllow rateInterview lift
MCAVOY, ELLEN M 1 72.8% +8.7%
BROWN, MINDY G 1 55.9% +44.4%
XIAO, YAN 1 67.3% +52.7%
TAYLOR, JORDAN W 1 63.2% +36.9%
GZYBOWSKI, MICHAEL STANLEY 1 68.3% +52.0%
ROGERS, JAMES WILLIAM 1 46.2% +22.3%
BLACKWELL-RUDASIL, RYAN KENZIE 1 61.9% +30.0%
YOUNG, MICAH PAUL 1 55.1% +30.0%
SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H 1 41.9% +38.5%
WESTERBERG, NISSA M 1 23.4% +37.1%

Hard Cases (6)

Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.

App #TitleExaminerDue in
18719462 METHOD AND PLANT FOR OBTAINING A MAIN PRODUCT STREAM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF TRANSPORT FUEL MCAVOY, ELLEN M —
18696532 METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE RESPONSE OF A PATIENT DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER TO TREATMENT AND/OR IMAGING WITH A COMPOUND TARGETING CCK2-R, AND COMPOUND FOR USE IN METHODS OF SELECTIVELY TREATING AND/OR IMAGING CANCER BROWN, MINDY G —
18604709 TRANSGLUTAMINASE CONJUGATION METHOD AND LINKER XIAO, YAN —
18566216 Isolated Metal Species in Metal-Zeolite Catalytic Material for Low Temperature SCR of NOx with NH3 TAYLOR, JORDAN W —
18552124 [161Tb]-BASED RADIOPEPTIDES ROGERS, JAMES WILLIAM —
18040021 ALPHA RADIOLABELED GASTRIN ANALOGUE AND USE THEREOF IN METHODS OF TREATING CCKB RECEPTOR POSITIVE DISEASES WESTERBERG, NISSA M —

Interview Candidates (9)

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
18040024 GALLIUM-LABELED GASTRIN ANALOGUE AND USE IN A METHOD OF IMAGING CCKB-RECEPTOR-POSITIVE TUMORS OR CANCERS YOUNG, MICAH PAUL 8d
18040011 COMPOSITION COMPRISING A RAPALOG AND A RADIOLABELLED GASTRIN ANALOGUE, IN PARTICULAR FOR USE IN THE TREATMENT AND/OR DIAGNOSIS OF CCKB RECEPTOR POSITIVE CANCER OR TUMORS SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H 26d
18696532 METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE RESPONSE OF A PATIENT DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER TO TREATMENT AND/OR IMAGING WITH A COMPOUND TARGETING CCK2-R, AND COMPOUND FOR USE IN METHODS OF SELECTIVELY TREATING AND/OR IMAGING CANCER BROWN, MINDY G —
18604709 TRANSGLUTAMINASE CONJUGATION METHOD AND LINKER XIAO, YAN —
18566216 Isolated Metal Species in Metal-Zeolite Catalytic Material for Low Temperature SCR of NOx with NH3 TAYLOR, JORDAN W —
18559099 A NANOFLUIDIC DEVICE FOR RAPID AND MULTIPLEXED SEROLOGICAL ANTIBODY DETECTION GZYBOWSKI, MICHAEL STANLEY —
18552124 [161Tb]-BASED RADIOPEPTIDES ROGERS, JAMES WILLIAM —
18041571 A METHOD FOR PREPARING NANOMETER-SIZED SURFACE FLUORINATED BATTERY MATERIALS BLACKWELL-RUDASIL, RYAN KENZIE —

Top Art Units

Art UnitApps
1618 4
1771 1
1798 1
1722 1

Pending Office Actions

App #TitleExaminerArt UnitStatutesStatusDue inAIFiled
18719462 METHOD AND PLANT FOR OBTAINING A MAIN PRODUCT STREAM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF TRANSPORT FUEL MCAVOY, ELLEN M 1771 §103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Jun 13, 2024
18696532 METHOD FOR PREDICTING THE RESPONSE OF A PATIENT DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER TO TREATMENT AND/OR IMAGING WITH A COMPOUND TARGETING CCK2-R, AND COMPOUND FOR USE IN METHODS OF SELECTIVELY TREATING AND/OR IMAGING CANCER BROWN, MINDY G — §101§102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 28, 2024
18604709 TRANSGLUTAMINASE CONJUGATION METHOD AND LINKER XIAO, YAN — §102§112Other Non-Final OA — Pending Mar 14, 2024
18566216 Isolated Metal Species in Metal-Zeolite Catalytic Material for Low Temperature SCR of NOx with NH3 TAYLOR, JORDAN W — §102§103§112 Non-Final OA — Pending Dec 01, 2023
18559099 A NANOFLUIDIC DEVICE FOR RAPID AND MULTIPLEXED SEROLOGICAL ANTIBODY DETECTION GZYBOWSKI, MICHAEL STANLEY 1798 §103 Final Rejection — Pending Nov 06, 2023
18552124 [161Tb]-BASED RADIOPEPTIDES ROGERS, JAMES WILLIAM 1618 §102§103 Non-Final OA — Pending Sep 22, 2023
18041571 A METHOD FOR PREPARING NANOMETER-SIZED SURFACE FLUORINATED BATTERY MATERIALS BLACKWELL-RUDASIL, RYAN KENZIE 1722 §103 Non-Final OA — Pending Feb 14, 2023
18040024 GALLIUM-LABELED GASTRIN ANALOGUE AND USE IN A METHOD OF IMAGING CCKB-RECEPTOR-POSITIVE TUMORS OR CANCERS YOUNG, MICAH PAUL 1618 §103 Final Rejection 8d Pending Jan 31, 2023
18040011 COMPOSITION COMPRISING A RAPALOG AND A RADIOLABELLED GASTRIN ANALOGUE, IN PARTICULAR FOR USE IN THE TREATMENT AND/OR DIAGNOSIS OF CCKB RECEPTOR POSITIVE CANCER OR TUMORS SCHLIENTZ, LEAH H 1618 §103 Final Rejection 26d Pending Jan 31, 2023
18040021 ALPHA RADIOLABELED GASTRIN ANALOGUE AND USE THEREOF IN METHODS OF TREATING CCKB RECEPTOR POSITIVE DISEASES WESTERBERG, NISSA M 1618 §103DP Non-Final OA — Pending Jan 31, 2023

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