Appeal No. 95-4491
Application No. 07/864,210
According to appellants, viscosity is affected by factors
such as molecular weight (Specification, p. 5), buffer
solution (Specification, p. 9), temperature (Specification, p.
10), and shear rate (Specification, p. 10). Nevertheless, the
mixture of chondroitin sulfate and sodium hyaluronate in an
aqueous buffer solution is said to exhibit an unexpectedly
synergistic viscosity which exceeds the sum of the individual
viscosities of the chondroitin sulfate and sodium hyaluronate.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103
Claims 1, 9, 13, 19, 21, 23-28 and 30-32 are rejected
under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over the
combination of Pape, Balazs, Healon, Kawano, Drugs in Japan
and Chakrabarti.
As pointed out above, Healon discloses the use of sodium
hyaluronate in ophthalmic surgery. According to Healon,4
sodium hyaluronate protects corneal endothelium and epithelium
both during and after ophthalmic surgery (p. 4). Drugs in
4 Pape and Balazs, disclosing the use of a sodium salt
of hyaluronic acid to protect eye tissue during surgery, are
merely cumulative of the teachings in Healon.
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