In a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision issued on
April 16, 2021, in Ex parte Bhalla, Luthra, Reid I,
and Levason (Appeal 2021-001535, USSN 14/373,413), the PTAB was
presented with the issue of the obviousness of an imaging agent
comprising an 18F-labelled compound of a formula
below, with the relevant moieties indicated. The main claim covered
a moderate genus of compounds1, and was rejected over a
combination of three references.
The PTAB noted that the rejection of the main claims was
premised upon a primary reference which failed to describe the
ligands at position Y1 and Y2, which is
typified by the center structure above. The PTAB reported that
the examiner sought out a secondary reference, describing
anticancer treatment utility – rather than directly imaging
as in the primary reference and the claims – and at least one
overlapping metal, with groups covered by the claims at position
Y1 and Y2. The Examiner further
relied upon a tertiary, and
