Ex parte KAMBOJ et al.; Ex parte NUTT; Ex parte FOLDES et al. - Page 4


                  Appeal No.  1999-1393                                                                                         
                  Application No.  08/242,344                                                                                   

                  BACKGROUND                                                                                                    
                          This decision consolidates the fourteen appeals listed in Appendix A.  Each                           
                  appeal relates to one of three classes of glutamate receptors.  Glutamate receptors                           
                  are the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter receptor in the mammalian brain                               
                  and are activated in a variety of normal neurophysiological processes.2  Four major                           

                  classes of glutamate receptors are well characterized: N-methyl-D-aspartate                                   
                  (NMDA), [.alpha]-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA), kainate,                                

                  and 2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoate.3                                                                            

                          The applications on appeal involve the kainate, AMPA, and NMDA receptor                               
                  classes.  As illustrated in Appendix B, the appeals not only fall within one of three                         
                  receptor classes, but are further divided into subclasses, with respect to the kainate,                       
                  and AMPA receptor classes.                                                                                    
                          While four different examiners were involved in this series of appeals, a                             
                  single reference, Puckett4, provides a common thread which relates all of the                                 
                  appeals.  All but two5 of the appeals, contain at least one rejection under                                   

                  35 U.S.C. § 103 upon which Puckett is relied upon in some manner.  Additionally,                              
                  the two appeals that do not expressly rely on Puckett in the statement of the                                 
                  rejection, make reference to Puckett in the body of the examiner’s Answer.                                    
                                                                                                                                
                  2 Puckett et al. (Puckett), “Molecular cloning and chromosomal localization of one of                         
                  the human glutamate receptor genes,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, Vol. 88, pp.                                
                  7557-561 (1991).                                                                                              
                  3 Sun et al. (Sun), “Molecular cloning, chromosomal mapping, and functional                                   
                  expression of human brain glutamate receptors,” Neurobiology, Vol. 89,                                        
                  pp. 1443-447 (1992).                                                                                          
                  4 Supra, n.2.                                                                                                 

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