Appeal No. 94-4129
Application 07/953,439
success. Persons having ordinary skill in the art with prior
knowledge that certain kinds of active agents may be
administered transdermally, might have been led to believe
that chemically, physically, and/or structurally similar
active agents could be administered in substantially the same
manner. However, here the prior art has established
therapeutic similarities only. We find no evidence of record
that the common therapeutic properties exhibited by
galanthamine and physostigmine would have reasonably suggested
to persons having ordinary skill in the art that galanthamine
could be administered transdermally with therapeutic success
similar to that achieved when transdermally administering
physostigmine, a compound which appears to be chemically,
physically and structurally dissimilar to galanthamine.
4. Conclusion
We reverse the examiner’s rejection of Claims 16-19 under
35 U.S.C. § 103.
5. Other Issues
The examiner should consider in the first instance the
patentability of Claims 16-19 of this application in light of
the subject matter claimed in Hille II, i.e., U.S. 5,700,480,
patented December 23, 1997 (copy attached). Note the
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