Appeal No. 95-4847
Application No. 08/079,222
Disclosure of the invention thus far has
contemplated the injection of bioprotective material
26 between the inflating balloon and the arterial
wall. Another method . . . contemplates applying a
thin sleeve of such material to the external surface
of the LBA balloon. The thin sleeve is then
transferred to the luminal surface as a result of
heat and pressure (column 9, lines 19-26).
From the above, it is our view that Spears would have
suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art that fibrin in
the form of a pre-formed film of drug-containing microspheres
be placed on the external surface of the balloon element of an
angioplasty catheter and placed in contact with the interior
wall of a body lumen for the purpose of treating the wall.
It is our further view that one of ordinary skill in the
art would have found it obvious to coat the stents of Schatz
with fibrin in place of the coatings disclosed in Schatz,
suggestion being found in the explicit teachings of Schatz and
Spears referred to above, which establish the desirability of
(1) coating a stent with materials to be applied to the walls
of the body lumen and (2) utilizing fibrin as such a material.
We note here that the prior art teachings relied upon need not
disclose the same advantage that the appellant alleges, for
all that is required is that there is a reasonable suggestion
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