Appeal No. 1995-3148
Application No. 08/011,130
and 8 through 14 also stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as being inoperative, and
under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as based on a non-enabling disclosure. We
reverse the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103. We do not reach the merits of the rejections
under 35 U.S.C. §§ 101 and 112, first paragraph, and remand this application to the
examiner for reevaluation of those rejections in light of U.S. Patent No. 5,872,222.
35 U.S.C.§ 103
All of the claims on appeal are directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising
a molecular conjugate having a polymer backbone coupled with a plurality of binding
molecules specific for a T-cell antigen. Individual claims require that the polymer is
nonimmunogenic in humans; that the polymer is resistant to hydrolysis in human body
fluids; that the composition comprises a mixture of two or more conjugates,
each specific for a different T-cell epitope; etc. All of the claims, however, require that the
binding molecules lack Fc portions.
Williams and Geppert each discloses activation of T-cells with anti-CD3 antibodies
bound to Sepharose, but neither discloses T-cell binding molecules lacking
Fc portions. Nor does the examiner rely on Goers or Roitt to remedy this deficiency. The
statement of the rejection contains only an oblique reference to binding molecules
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