Appeal No. 2002-0253
Application No. 09/093,450
taught by Aggarwal.2 Thus, even if we were to assume, arguendo, that one skilled in
the art would have understood the teachings of Aggarwal to be directed to the
administration of both TNF" and TNF$ antagonists for treating rheumatoid arthritis, we
would still find that the patent discloses the invention set forth in claim 15. That is, the
teachings in column 7 of Aggarwal read directly on the method of treating rheumatoid
arthritis comprising the administration of therapeutically-effective amounts of a TNF"
antagonist. In view of the foregoing, we find that one of ordinary skill in the art would
not need to choose between the two types of TNF antagonists taught by Aggarwal in
order to be in possession of the claimed invention.
As to the alleged need to make a selection of the co-therapy; i.e., cyclosporin,
we find that the teachings of Aggarwal are directed to a limited selection of anti-
inflammatory agents, each one of which would be effective with the TNF antagonist.
To that end, we point not only to the teachings in column 7, lines 60-63, but we also
direct attention to claim 6, which indicates a preference for cyclosporin as the anti-
inflammatory agent. Thus, we find that one of ordinary skill in the art would have
understood the teachings of the patent as describing a method of treating rheumatoid
arthritis which comprises the co-administration of cyclosporin. We make this finding
2 The claims are directed to a method of treatment which “comprises” the
administration of a TNF" antagonist and cyclosporin. We point out that it is well
established that the term “comprising” is a term of art which opens the claim to the
inclusion of other elements. Genentech, Inc. v. Chiron Corp., 112 F.3d 495, 501, 42
USPQ2d 1608, 1613 (Fed. Cir. 1997); Moleculon Research Corp. v. CBS, Inc., 793
F.2d 1261, 1271, 229 USPQ 805, 812 (Fed. Cir. 1986); In re Baxter, 656 F.2d 679, 686,
210 USPQ 795, 803 (CCPA 1981).
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