Patent decision

BL number

O/1045/24

Concerning rights in

GB2201855.0

Hearing Officer

Dr R Dinham

Decision date

6 November 2024

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Debasish Banerjee

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 section 14(3), section 76(2)

Keywords

Added subject matter, Sufficiency

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application concerns the formulation of pharmaceutical compositions for enhanced buccal/ sublingual drug delivery, using “permeability enhancers” to increase the rate of absorption and the total drug absorbed in a given time.

The examiner maintained objections to added subject matter, sufficiency of disclosure, novelty, inventive step an clarity.

A decision on the papers was requested, and an auxiliary set of claims was provided with the skeleton arguments. Using the three-step analysis set out in Bonzel, the hearing officer found that amendments made to the description extended beyond that disclosed in the application as filed. Additionally, the hearing office found that the application did not disclose the invention clearly or completely enough for it to be performed by the person skilled in the art, applying the principles of Eli Lilly. The auxiliary amendments did not rectify either deficiency. The hearing officer did not consider it necessary or proportionate to consider the remaining outstanding issues. The application was refused.

Full decision O/1045/24 215Kb