Appeal No. 2005-1171
Application No. 09/469,485
Claim 8 is representative of the subject matter on appeal and reads as follows:
8. A method of increasing the antigenicity of recombinant hepatitis B surface
antigen (rHBsAg) comprising:
a) providing soluble sterile filtered rHBsAg purified from a cell culture,
b) adding a redox buffer to the rHBsAg,
c) adjusting the temperature to about 34° C to about 38° C,
d) incubating the rHBsAg at about 34° C to about 38° C for about 40 to
about 240 hours, wherein the antigenicity of the rHBsAg produced after
step d is greater than the antigenicity of the rHBsAg provided in step a.
The references relied upon by the examiner are:
Even-Chen 5,242,812 Sep. 7, 1993
Builder et al. (Builder) 4,620,948 Nov. 4, 1986
Petre et al. (Petre) WO 93/24148 Dec. 9, 1993
Valenzuela et al. (Valenzuela), “Nucleotide sequence of the gene coding for the major
protein of hepatitis B virus surface antigen,” Nature, vol. 280, pp. 815-819, (1979).
The claims stand rejected as follows:
I. Claims 8-16 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Builder and Valenzuela.
II. Claims 17, 19 and 20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable
over Builder and Valenzuela as applied to claims 8-16 above, and further in view of
Petre.
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