Appeal No. 95-2993
Application 08/019,387
13 have been canceled. Claims 14 and 9 are illustrative of the subject matter on appeal
and read as follows:
9. A method for the treatment of atherosclerosis which comprises
administering to a patient in need of anti-atherosclerotic treatment, an effective amount of
8,9-dehydroestrone or a salt of 8,9-dehydroestrone sulfate ester.
14. A pharmaceutically acceptable alkaline earth meal, ammonium or amine salt
of 8,9-dehydroestrone-3-sulfate ester free from other estrogenic steroids, wherein the
amine of said salt is selected from the group consisting of an alkylamine of 1 to 6 carbons
atoms and a dialkylamine in which each alkyl group has, independently, 1 to 6 carbon
atoms.
Claims 2 through 12 and 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph,
as “failing to adequately teach how to use the invention.” Answer, p. 3.
We reverse.
In reviewing the rejection, we find that the examiner is primarily concerned with
whether the claimed compounds “are useful for the treatment of estrogen related disorders
or atherosclerosis” and, thus, whether the specification would have enabled one skilled in
the art to use the claimed compounds for said treatments. Answer, pp.
4 and 6.
The appellants point out, and the examiner does not contest, that the claimed
compounds are estrogenic steroids. It is the appellants’ position that since medical
practitioners have been using estrogens for many years, once they are informed that a
steroid is estrogenic, “they know how to use them without detailed instruction.”
Brief, p. 2. We agree.
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