Appeal No. 1997-3242
Application No. 07/929,834
Claim 1 is representative:
1. A method for designing a compound specifically inhibiting targeted ribonucleic
acid function comprising the steps of:
(a) determining the nucleotide sequence of a site in the targeted ribonucleic acid
that is critical to function, wherein the site is referred to as a critical site;
(b) determining the secondary structure of the region of the targeted ribonucleic
acid in which the critical site is located;
(c) determining the three-dimensional structure of the targeted RNA, including the
position of the critical site relative to the major and minor grooves;
(d) determining the sequence of nucleotides and structure flanking the critical site
in the targeted ribonucleic acid that is specific to the critical region of the ribonucleic acid
to be inhibited and within the minor groove; and
(e) designing a compound to bind specifically to the critical site within the minor
groove of the targeted ribonucleic acid, wherein binding of the compound to the targeted
RNA inhibits the function of the targeted RNA.
No prior art references are relied on by the examiner.
The claims stand rejected as follows:
I. Claims 1-14 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as based on a non-enabling
disclosure.
II. Claims 1-5, 8-10 and 12-14 under 35 U.S.C. § 101 (provisional) as claiming the
same invention as that of claims 1, 3, 14-16, 4-6 and 8-10 of copending application serial
no. 08/249,689.
III. Claims 1, 2, 8-11, 13 and 14 under the doctrine of obviousness-type double
patenting (provisional) as unpatentable over claims 1, 3-6, 9 and 10 of copending
application serial no. 08/249,689.
IV. Claims 1-5, 7-10 and 12-14 under the doctrine of obviousness-type double
patenting (provisional) as unpatentable over claims 1, 3, 14-16, 4-6 and 8-10 of copending
application serial no. 08/249,689.
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