Appeal No. 1997-2801
Application 08/364,072
required by claim 4 on appeal. EP’383, page 2, line 46, to page 3, line 61; page 6, lines
27-28. EP’383 discloses that the compounds of that reference can be administered orally
at a daily dosage of from 5 to 2,000 mg. EP’383 discloses that an effective amount of the
drug is ordinarily supplied at a dosage level of from about 0.1 mg to about 50 mg/kg of
body weight per day, preferably from about 0.1 mg to 7 mg/kg of body weight per day,
more preferably from 0.01 mg to 3 mg/kg of body weight per day and that these dosages
are well below the toxic dose of the compound. EP’383, page 6, lines 27-41.
The definition of benign prostate hypertrophy in rejection (1) above is incorporated
herein by reference.
EP’383 teaches that the active agents are to be used to treat benign prostatic
hyperplasia without qualification as to whether the patients are symptomatic or
asymptomatic for prostatic cancer. To the extent EP’383 teaches the administration of the
active agents to patients who are asymptomatic for prostatic cancer, those patients meet
the requirements of the claims on appeal in regard to (1) the persons being treated, (2)
the active agent used and (3) the amounts of active agent used. Thus, we hold that
EP’383 describes the claimed subject matter and, therefore, constitutes an anticipation.
We again recognize that EP’383 does not administer the active agent for the purpose of
preventing prostatic carcinoma in patients that are asymptomatic for prostatic cancer.
9
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007