Appeal No. 2004-2138 Page 10
Application No. 08/765,324
desired antigen. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the
time the invention was made to use the delipidated, reduced, carboxymethylated, and
solubilized apolipoprotein taught by Lee as the antigen in Goding’s method of making
monoclonal antibodies. Motivation to combine the references is provided by Lee, which
teaches that the apolipoprotein that Lee used to raise antibodies is the major protein
component of LDL, which is the principal carrier of cholesterol in the circulation (page
134, left-hand column); antibodies to the apolipoprotein would therefore have been
expected to be useful in quantitating serum LDL levels. Those skilled in the art would
have been motivated to use Goding’s methods of making monoclonal antibodies
because such methods allow “a virtually unlimited supply of identical antibodies.”
Hybritech, Inc. v. Monoclonal Antibodies, Inc., 802 F.2d 1367, 1369, 231 USPQ 81, 82
(Fed. Cir. 1987). Thus, the method of claim 49 would have been obvious to those
skilled in the art at the time of the invention.
The above rejections are basically the same as those made earlier in prosecution
by the examiner. See the Office action mailed January 30, 2001. In response to these
rejections, Appellants argued that Lee’s method differs from the one claimed because
Lee “does not immunize an animal with the delipidated, decarboxymethylated [sic],
reduced apolipoprotein. He has removed the reducing agents from the apolipoprotein.
In contrast, . . . applicants immunized with the delipidated, decarboxymethylated [sic],
reduced apolipoprotein from which the degraded and complexed materials had been
removed.” Appellants’ response to the Final Office action, received September 4, 2001.
The examiner withdrew the prior art-based rejections, but we believe they should
2 Goding, Monoclonal Antibodies: Principles and Practice, pp. 56-97, Academic Press, Inc. (1983).
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