Prior art for US Patent No. 6025327 for hydrolyzed collagen type II

Question

Does any one know any prior art for the US6025327, disclosing hydrolyzed chicken sternal cartilage derived collagen type II, or method for preparing collagen type II from chicken sternal cartilage?

Here are the first claims of the patent:

1. Chicken sternal cartilage-derived material comprising hydrolyzed collagen type II, said hydrolyzed collagen type II having an average molecular weight of between about 1,500 and 2,500 daltons.

2. A method for treating an individual with a connective tissue disorder, comprising orally administering to said individual an effective daily amount of chicken sternal cailage-derived material comprising hydrolyzed collagen type II having an average molecular weight of between about 1,500 and 2,500 daltons.

Answer 1

Maybe something like this:

Dev Dyn. 1993 Dec;198(4):284-95.

RS Tuan did a lot of work with chick sternal cartilage - seems quite likely that one of his papers (or the papers of similar researchers) inherently discloses the subject matter of claim 1.

Answer 2

It's chicken cartilage, you can just buy the chicken bones, boil the hell out of them, eat all the cartilage and drink the liquid and it will work just as well if not better. Harward medical school needed a way to patent it because you can not patent a natural product thus they reworded it to make it patentable. In my culture "Russian" we make this kind of soup on regular basis, especially for the elderly and hardly anyone has arthritis problems.