Appeal No. 2007-0542
Application No. 10/301,185
trigeminal nerve. Appellants contend that cited prior art does not provide
the motivation to have applied NGF or FGF to skin regions innervated by
the trigeminal nerve. The question for this appeal is whether the Examiner
has shown that the cited prior art provides sufficient motivation to have
made it obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103 to have applied NGF or FGF to a
skin region outside the nasal cavity, but innervated by the trigeminal nerve.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
1. Claim 45 is a method of “delivering a neurologic agent to the
central nervous system.” It is the only independent claim on appeal.
2. The claimed method comprises “transdermally administering a
composition comprising said neurologic agent.”
3. The “neurologic agent” is administered “at a region of the skin . . .
that is innervated by the trigeminal nerve and outside the nasal cavity.”
4. The agent is NGF or FGF.
Specification
5. “The trigeminal nerve innervates tissues of a mammal’s (e.g.
human) head including skin of the face and scalp, oral tissues, and tissues of
and surrounding the eye. The trigeminal nerve has three major branches, the
ophthalmic nerve, the maxillary nerve, and the mandibular nerve.”
Specification 3: 9-14. “The ophthalmic nerve innervates tissues including
superficial and deep parts of the superior region of the face, such as the eye,
the lacrimal gland, the conjunctiva, and skin of the scalp, forehead, upper
eyelid, and nose.” Specification at 3: 18-20.
Frey
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