U.S. Patent Allowed - it has been determined that it is “allowed”, meaning it is intended to issue but has not yet been issued or granted. The NIH will get a notice of allowance once the office actions have all been completed and the USPTO has determined the patent is “issuable." At that point, the NIH will have to pay the issue fees in order for them to issue the patent. Sometimes, although rarely, the patent will be abandoned at that point and the fees will be foregone. In this case, the status cannot be "issued" because it does not have a patent number yet and the issue fees had not yet been paid.