$GNSZ News - Genspera Wins Summary Judgment in Mhaka Litigation

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, - (http://www.financialnewsmedia.com News Alert) - GenSpera, Inc. (OTCQB: GNSZ), a leader in developing prodrug therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced that the United States District Court for the District of Maryland has granted the company\'s summary judgment with respect to all pending claims asserted against it by Annastasiah Mhaka.



\"We welcome the court\'s decision and are pleased with the result,\" said Craig Dionne, GenSpera\'s CEO. \"We believe that our defense against these claims has demonstrated GenSpera\'s commitment to protecting its technologies and intellectual property portfolio.\"



As previously announced in the company\'s public filings, on March 12, 2012, as a result of certain allegations made by Ms. Mhaka, GenSpera instituted a declaratory judgment action against Annastasiah Mhaka in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland: GenSpera, Inc. v. Mhaka, Civil Action No. MJG-12-772 (D. Md.) seeking a declaratory judgment that Ms. Mhaka should not be added as an inventor to either the US 7,468,354 patent or the US 7,767,648 patent (the \'354 patent and \'648 patents) (the first of which claims the company\'s proprietary PSMA-activated lead drug candidate, mipsagargin, and the latter of which claims methods of use of mipsagargin). On May 1, 2013, the Court granted GenSpera\'s motion for summary judgment and issued a declaratory judgment establishing that Ms. Mhaka should not be added to the two patents under 35 U.S.C. $ 256.



As part of the litigation, Ms. Mhaka made certain counterclaims against GenSpera, along with Drs. Samuel Denmeade and John Isaacs (two of the company\'s co-founders), based on allegations that she had been wrongly omitted from the \'354 patent and \'648 patent. On January 2, 2014, Drs. Isaacs and Denmeade moved for summary judgment, and GenSpera joined in the motion. On May 6, 2014, GenSpera moved separately for summary judgment, a motion that Drs. Denmeade and Isaacs joined in part.



On September 12, 2014, the Court granted GenSpera\'s motion for summary judgment as well as the motion for summary judgment filed by Drs. Denmeade and Isaacs. Judgment in favor of GenSpera, Dr. Isaacs, and Dr. Denmeade was entered concurrently.



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