Appeal No. 95-2688
Application No. 07/845,560
Arthur G. Schwart et al., "Novel Dehydroepiandrosterone Analogues with Enhanced
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Biological Activity and Reduced Side Effects in Mice and Rats, " 48, Cancer Research
4817-4822 (1988)
The appealed claims stand rejected for obviousness (35 U.S.C. § 103) over
Kligman in view of the Orentreich patents.
We cannot sustain the stated rejection.
OPINION
The examiner's rejection of the appealed claims is predicated on his assertion that
it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in this art to substitute “the DHEA
of the secondary references for the steroids" of Kligman "in view of their similar activity and
structure," thereby arriving at the claimed invention, since Kligman teaches a "composition
containing steroids and retinoids" (answer, page 3).
Initially, we point out that Kligman's disclosure is directed to compositions
containing glucocorticoids, not steroids in a generic sense, as held by the examiner.
Secondly, the examiner has provided no factual support for the contention that
glucocorticoids and DHEA have similar activity and structure. Indeed, as appellant has
argued, glucocorticoids and DHEA are chemically distinct and are not functionally
equivalent, and appellant has cited multiple publications in this record in support of his
assertions. In this regard, the May publication relied upon by appellant indicates that
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