Appeal No. 2007-0311
Application No. 10/175,744
purposes, including the production of therapeutics to treat
different types of cancers.
(Br. 9-10.)
This argument does not persuade us that Appellants have disclosed a
utility for the claimed antibodies that meets the requirements of § 101.
Appellants have described PDI as “a catalyst of disulfide formation and
isomerization during protein folding” and PDI-related proteins as “generally
of interest in the study of redox reactions and related processes.”
(WO 99/46281, page 9.)
Appellants have pointed to nothing in the present specification or in
any of the priority documents that describes any specific “diseases involving
protein misfolding and cellular viability/proliferation, such as various types
of cancer,” that would be amenable to treatment with an antibody that binds
SEQ ID NO:74. Nor have Appellants pointed to other evidence showing
that PDI-related proteins were recognized, as of this application’s effective
filing date, to be an established or promising treatment for such diseases.
Appellants have not disclosed any specific disorder that could be
effectively treated with the claimed antibodies. Therefore, their argument
that the claimed antibodies “allow[ ] the development of novel therapies
directed to the targeting and/or treatment of diseases involving protein
misfolding and cellular viability/proliferation, such as various types of
cancer,” does not persuade us that the identification of SEQ ID NO:74 as a
PDI-related protein is sufficient, in itself, to establish the patentable utility of
the claimed antibodies.
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