Appeal No. 2006-0565 Page 4
Application No. 10/033,777
“[T]he Examiner bears the burden of establishing a prima facie case of
obviousness based upon the prior art. ‘[The Examiner] can satisfy this burden
only by showing some objective teaching in the prior art or that knowledge
generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art would lead that individual to
combine the relevant teachings of the references.’” In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260,
1265, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783 (Fed. Cir. 1992) (citation omitted). An adequate
showing of motivation to combine requires “evidence that ‘a skilled artisan,
confronted with the same problems as the inventor and with no knowledge of the
claimed invention, would select the elements from the cited prior art references
for combination in the manner claimed.’” Ecolochem, Inc. v. Southern Calif.
Edison Co., 227 F.3d 1361, 1375, 56 USPQ2d 1065, 1076 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
Römisch EP teaches a protease that activates blood clotting factor VII,
and teaches that the protease may be stabilized with sodium citrate. See id. at 2.
The reference also teaches that stabilizers such as glutamate, amino acids,
calcium ions and sugars may also be used. See id. at 3. The Römisch EP
reference fails to teach the use of tranexamic acid as a stabilizer.
Sato teaches that tranexamic acid is a well known anti-inflammatory agent
and hemostyptic agent, but teaches that oral compositions containing it are
unstable and tend to discolor upon aging. See id. at Column 1, lines 6-21. The
reference teaches that the composition may be stabilized by the addition of other
materials, such as carvone. See id. at Column 2, lines 47-55. According to Sato,
the composition may contain other ingredients such as “enzymes such as
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