[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38714-38715]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13908]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2022-0019]
Extension of the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program and Request
for Comments
AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: On June 29, 2016, the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) implemented the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program in
support of the White House's National Cancer Moonshot initiative, which
sought to accelerate cancer research. The program permits patent
applications pertaining to cancer immunotherapy to be advanced out of
turn for examination. To date, over 835 petitions requesting
participation in the pilot program have been filed, and over 615
patents have been granted under the program. In view of the continued
interest in the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program, as well as the
White House's recent reignition of the National
[[Page 38715]]
Cancer Moonshot initiative, the USPTO is extending the program, with
all parameters remaining the same, until September 30, 2022. The USPTO
is also in the process of deciding whether to expand the scope of the
pilot program and may, additionally, further extend it (with or without
modifications), depending on feedback from the participants and the
public, additional continued interest, and the program's effectiveness.
DATES: Comments must be received by July 29, 2022 to ensure
consideration.
Pilot duration: The Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program will
continue to run until September 30, 2022. Therefore, petitions to make
special under the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program must be filed on
or before September 30, 2022.
ADDRESSES: For reasons of Government efficiency, comments must be
submitted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the portal, enter docket
number PTO-P-2022-0019 on the homepage and click ``Search.'' The site
will provide a search results page listing all documents associated
with this docket. Find a reference to this notice and click on the
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments. Attachments to electronic comments will be
accepted in ADOBE[supreg] portable document format or MICROSOFT
WORD[supreg] format. Because comments will be made available for public
inspection, information that the submitter does not desire to make
public, such as an address or phone number, should not be included in
the comments.
Visit the Federal eRulemaking Portal website (www.regulations.gov)
for additional instructions on providing comments via the portal. If
electronic submission of comments is not feasible due to a lack of
access to a computer and/or the internet, please contact the USPTO
using the contact information below for special instructions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions regarding this pilot
program in general, please contact Susy Tsang-Foster, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, at 571-272-7711or
[email protected]. For questions related to a particular
petition, please contact Gary B. Nickol, Supervisory Patent Examiner,
at 571-272-0835 or [email protected]; or Brandon J. Fetterolf,
Supervisory Patent Examiner, at 571-272-2919 or
[email protected], both of Technology Center 1600.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 29, 2016, the USPTO published a
notice for the implementation of the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot
Program. See Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program, 81 FR 42328 (Cancer
Immunotherapy Notice). The pilot program was designed to support the
global fight against cancer. The Cancer Immunotherapy Notice indicated
that an applicant could have an application advanced out of turn
(accorded special status) for examination without meeting all the
current requirements of the accelerated examination program set forth
in item VIII of section 708.02(a) of the Manual of Patent Examining
Procedure if the application contained at least one claim to a method
of treating a cancer using immunotherapy and the applicant met other
requirements specified in the Cancer Immunotherapy Notice.
The Cancer Immunotherapy Notice established that the pilot program
would run for 12 months, beginning on June 29, 2016. Over the course of
the pilot program, the USPTO has extended it through notices published
in the Federal Register. The most recent notice extended the program
until June 30, 2022. See Extension of the Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot
Program, 85 FR 41570 (July 10, 2020). In view of the continued interest
in the pilot program, the USPTO is hereby extending it through
September 30, 2022. The extension will also allow the USPTO to continue
its evaluation of the program. The requirements of the pilot program
have not been modified.
Various stakeholders from around the world--including independent
inventors, universities, research institutions, hospitals, medical
centers, government agencies, and large and small companies--have filed
petitions to participate in the pilot program. To date, over 835
petitions requesting participation have been filed, and over 615
patents have been granted under the pilot program.
The USPTO is currently deciding whether to expand the scope of the
pilot program. The USPTO may further extend the program (with or
without modifications), depending on feedback from the participants,
additional continued interest, and the program's effectiveness. The
USPTO welcomes public comment on these topics.
Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2022-13908 Filed 6-28-22; 8:45 am]
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