Appeal No. 1997-2182
Application 08/137,443
routineer in the art, (7) the predictability or lack thereof
in the art, and (8) the breadth of the claims. In re Wands,
858 F.2d 731, 737, 8 USPQ2d 1400, 1404 (Fed. Cir. 1988).
The examiner's position as stated in his Answer is that
he considers appellants' claims to be directed to the
treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the only disease mentioned
in their specification as including as a symptom thereof
memory loss due to decreased cholinergic function and that
"undue" experimentation would be required by the person of
ordinary skill in the art to practice the claimed invention.
The examiner explains that appellants have failed to present
adequately reliable information in their disclosure for
effectively treating Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, the
examiner questions the reliability of appellants' screening
method for screening prospective drug candidates for treatment
of memory dysfunction characterized by decreased cholinergic
function. The examiner also questions whether appellants' use
of the Dark Avoidance Test can reliably predict efficacy in3
humans of the claimed compounds.
See page 6, line 27 through page 7, line 15 of the3
specification for an explanation of the Dark Avoidance
Test.
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