Appeal No. 2001-1499 Page 17
Application No. 08/957,654
teachings would have made it prima facie obvious to a person of ordinary skill in
the art to use transgenically produced alpha-1-antitrypsin in the method made
obvious by Gillis and Rao, because of the advantages disclosed by Clark.
Claim 6 is directed to the method of claim 1, with the added “limitation”
that “the alpha-1-antitrypsin inhibits the activity of human neutrophil elastase in
the wound.” The examiner cited Glover as evidence that alpha-1-antitrypsin
inhibits elastase. Examiner’s Answer, page 6. Thus, claim 6 does no more than
recite an inherent property of alpha-1-antitrypsin, as shown by the examiner’s
cited references. I agree with the examiner that claim 6 is also prima facie
obvious.
Appellants argue that Rao contains “no specific mention of decubitis
ulcers, pressure sores, diabetic ulcers or venous ulcers. Furthermore, no in vivo
experiments are performed. At best, Rao postulates that AAT may protect
fibronecti[n] in a chronic wound.” Brief, page 15.
I do not find these arguments persuasive. First, Rao provides a
reasonable basis for concluding that alpha-1-antitrypsin would aid in the healing
of chronic wounds. The wound fluid used by Rao was derived from “chronic
venous stasis ulcers.” Page 572, right-hand column. At a minimum, therefore,
Rao’s teachings would be relevant to the “venous ulcers” recited in the claims.
However, Rao disclosed that their findings were applicable to chronic wounds
generally, and not limited to venous ulcers. Gillis teaches that chronic wounds
generally are amenable to treatment with the disclosed IL-1-containing
compositions. Column 3, lines 24-32. Therefore, the skilled artisan would
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