Appeal No. 1999-1417
Application 08/268,730
EXCITOTOXINS AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS. As correctly found by the
examiner, at the time applicants’ invention was made, the prior art did not recognize
effective means of treatment for a number of disorders discussed by Olney and embraced
by the appealed claims, e.g., Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, neurolathyrism,
Parkinson’s Disease, Wernicke/Korsakoff Syndrome, Jakob-Creutzfeldt Syndrome, and
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A number of these disorders have different etiologies, even
though “related to” or “associated with” excitatory amino acid-induced neurotoxicity.
All in all, we believe that the examiner appropriately assessed the breadth of claims
76 through 80, and the state of the prior art, in determining that applicants’ specification
does not teach those skilled in the art how to use the full scope of the claimed invention
without undue experimentation.
Further, as stated in In re Fisher, 427 F.2d 833, 839, 166 USPQ 18, 24 (CCPA
1970), “In cases involving unpredictable factors, such as most chemical reactions and
physiological activity, the scope of enablement obviously varies inversely with the degree
of unpredictability of the factors involved.” Here, we agree with the examiner that
applicants’ claimed invention involves a relatively high degree of unpredictability. The
claims at issue are drawn to a method of treating various neurodegenerative disorders by
administering a specified pharmaceutically active ingredient to a patient in need of such
treatment. The claimed invention involves unpredictable factors such as physiological
activity, pharmacology, and therapeutic action of a specified N-acyl-lysoganglioside, or
8
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007