Appeal No. 2001-2347
Application No. 08/251,574
White and Schultz teach that antibodies bnding to the two claimed
antigens were known or obvious at the time of the claimed invention.
White et al taught the 15A8 antigen and Schultz et al taught a melanoma
specific antigen that appears to be an obvious variant of ZME-018 antigen
directed against melanomas (the ZME-018 antigen does not appear to
have any functional difference from the melanoma antigen of Schultz et al
and therefore the antibodies against this antigen would have been obvious
variants of those against other melanoma antigens).
The examiner summarizes (Answer, page 5):
[o]ne of ordinary skill in the art would have found it prima facie obvious to
substitute the specificity of the antibodies in the immunoconjugates taught
by Huston et al or Rodwell et al with the antbody specificities of White et al
or Schultz et al because, since the art indicated that antibody/biological
response modifiers were known and available in the prior art, then
antibodies of any specificity would have been obvious substitutions for
those of Huston or Rodwell. ...
It is well accepted in the art that biological response modifiers which
include TNFs and IL-1 can exert a toxic effect on a variety of cancers as
taught by Zimmerman, or Houston et al or Hudziak, who also teach that
biological response modifers were able to be effectively used to treat
cancer cells when given with or without tumour specific antibodies.
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it prima facie
obvious at the time of the claimed invention to produce the
immunoconjugates as taught by Huston et al and Rodwell et al, wherein
the specificities and the nature of the biological response modifiers have
been substituted with those taught by White et al or Schultz et al and
Houston, or Zimmerman or Hudziak.
For the reasons indicated herein, we find the examiner has provided sufficient
evidence to establish a prima facie case of obviousness. In particular, Huston provides
those of ordinary skill in the art with detailed disclosure as to how to prepare and
preserve functionality of protein conjugates. Huston teaches specific conjugates
including an antibody coupled with tumor necrosis factor or interleukin-2. Huston, page
5
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