Appeal No. 95-3387
Application No. 08/005,942
compounds which include variants which lack the methyl group
in the hydroxyproline residue. While there is a statement in
Michel, at page 1, lines 21-22 to the effect that the starting
fermentates are mixtures of variant compounds there is no
indication that the desmethyl variant is one of those known to
be present in the microbial fermentate. The exemplified
variants in Michel do not include the desmethyl variant.
There is no teaching of removal of this methyl group either.
Thus, we conclude that the cited references fail to provide
any evidence that one of ordinary skill in the art would have
been enabled to prepare the compounds of the cited prior art
without a methyl on the fourth carbon of the hydroxyproline
residue. Thus, the rejections presented under 35 U.S.C. § 103
are reversed.
Other Issues
We make note of a potential rejection under 35 U.S.C. §
103 based on the disclosure of Schmatz of echinocandin
derivatives that are so closely related to the claimed
compounds as to differ only in the lack of a methyl group in
the hydroxyproline residue, coupled with the disclosure of the
Schwartz reference discussed above, as to the existence of
14
Page: Previous 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007