Expedited review or via the back door?

It's definitely getting more interesting if this was possibly what was holding this up!!!

Small businesses working on coronavirus-related drugs or treatments can get patents in as few as six months under a new program announced by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“Independent inventors and small businesses are often the difference makers when it comes to cutting-edge innovation and the growth of our economy,” patent office Director Andrei Iancu said in a statement on Friday. “They are also in most need of assistance as we fight this pandemic.”

A typical patent application takes about 15 months just to get a first response from an examiner, according to the agency’s annual report. Companies can pay extra fees to get an expedited review, though few applicants take that route.

The new prioritized review won’t cost extra money, but it’s limited to firms that can be classified as a “small or micro” entity, which would include independent inventors, companies with fewer than 500 employees, people working for institutes of higher education, and non-profit groups. These groups already pay less in regular application fees than big companies.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-08/covid-related-u-s-patents-to-be-fast-tracked-for-small-business