With patent applications, it is important to remember that...

With patent applications, it is important to remember that Non-Final Rejections and even Final Rejections are not actually final at all.  They point the way forward.

Having considered the position of the USPTO, Noxopharm is allowed to vary its claims accordingly.  It is also allowed to submit ‘daughter’ applications that provide further evidence of inventiveness.  We can expect this to occur.

When the first group of five applications were submitted, Noxopharm was still working out how the LIPROSE delivery technology was working.  It knew that dissolving Idronoxil in a lipophilic base enabled the drug to remain in the body in an active form for up to 12 hours, and provided proof in the patent applications that this was the case.  I suspect Noxopharm knows a lot more by now.

It is probable, in my view, that the unique formulation of LIPROSE suppositories will have created New Chemical Entities that are themselves patentable.  For instance, Graham Kelly has said that “idronoxil-C is a new drug in its own right and that gives the company the opportunity to create more specialised drug products to complement NOX66”.  It is open to Noxopharm to describe Idronoxil-C as part of a daughter application that simultaneously addresses all concerns of US Examiners.

Graham Kelly is the inventor of a large number of granted patents.  He is confident that Noxopharm will achieve patent protection for the LIPROSE technology.