Appeal No. 94-2477
Application 07/893,554
205 USPQ 215, 219 (CCPA 1980)(citations omitted). Furthermore, Noyes clearly
suggests that administration of delta-9-THC for the purpose of stimulating appetite
while minimizing central nervous system effects is best obtained using a low dosage.
Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would have had ample reason, suggestion, or
motivation from the applied prior art to use a lesser amount of delta-9-THC for the
purpose of increasing or stimulating appetite.
Further factual support for the conclusion of prima facie obviousness is found in
Regelson. Regelson describes the results obtained from a clinical study in which delta-
9-THC was administered in the form of 2.5 mg capsules of a suspension of the agent in
sesame oil, as in claims 4, 8 and 12 on appeal, to advanced cancer patients. The daily
dosage used in that study was as low as 5 mg/day as in the present invention. See
Table 1. Significantly, Regelson found that all groups involved gained weight during the
study. See, e.g., first full paragraph of page 769. Thus, at the time of the present
invention, one of ordinary skill in the art knew that delta-9-THC, in the form of 2.5 mg
capsules containing a suspension of the active agent in sesame oil, administered in
amounts as low as 5 mg/day resulted in advanced cancer patients gaining weight.
Thus, this hypothetical person would have had a reasonable expectation that
administering the same agent to patients having symptomatic HIV infection would result
in weight gain.
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