Appeal No. 1999-1413
Application 08/176,024
declarations by Drs. Steven L. Hoffman (1st and 2nd declarations), Yupin Charoenvit, and
Thomas F. McCutchan, which were attached to the original Brief.
In the Examiner’s Answer, four rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 were withdrawn.
No new grounds of rejection were made, and no Reply Brief was filed.
Background
Plasmodium vivax is one of the four species of parasite causing malaria in humans
(specification, page 1). Despite major efforts over at least 20 years, a commercially viable
malaria vaccine has not been achieved (page 2 of the December 28, 1993 amendment to
the specification). The present invention involves a monoclonal antibody, here designated
NVS3. The monoclonal antibody has been described in the prior art (specification, page
2). This antibody binds to an epitope within a repeated nine amino acid sequence of the
circumsporozoite protein of P. vivax (specification, page 8). Prior to the invention,
recombinant proteins comprising the P. vivax repeated amino acid sequence failed to
induce a significant protective effect in Saimiri monkeys in active immunization
experiments (specification, pages 3-4). An object of this invention is to provide passive
protection against P. vivax by administering the antibody to a subject, where the antibodies
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