Rakovina Therapeutics announces first drug candidates

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: RKV), a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing new cancer therapies based on novel DNA Damage Response (DDR) technologies, today announced that it has received initial results from its proprietary Deep Docking AI platform .

Rakovina used the deep docking algorithm to evaluate billions of molecular structures and create a shortlist of drug candidates optimized for a specific target product profile. A screening effort of this magnitude would not be possible using conventional medicinal chemistry approaches.

“With the Deep Docking AI platform, these initial results were achieved in less than five months, as opposed to traditional discovery methods that would take thousands of years,” said Jeffrey Bacha, Executive Chairman of Rakovina Therapeutics. “AI significantly increases the speed and probability of success of our drug discovery platform,” he added.

“We are pleased to receive this shortlist of recommended drug candidates from our initial AI screening,” said Bacha. “Our excitement is similar to receiving a core sample from a promising mining project, but instead of rare metals, this sample contains a curated list of potential novel drug candidates that could significantly improve cancer treatment for patients worldwide.”

Selected drug candidates will be synthesized for validation at Rakovina Therapeutics' laboratories at the University of British Columbia in the coming months, with the goal of further developing a first-in-class DDR drug candidate for human clinical trials in collaboration with pharmaceutical company partners.

In March 2024, the company announced the conclusion of a cooperation agreement with Dr. Artem Cherkasov, granting Rakovina Therapeutics exclusive access to the deep docking AI platform for DNA damage response targets. Dr. Cherkasov is a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a senior scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre. These results are the first result of the ongoing collaboration.

The collaboration aims to use AI algorithms to analyze billions of potential drug candidates with the aim of accelerating discovery, reducing costs and improving the success rate in identifying best-in-class DNA damage response drug candidates. The agreement gives Rakovina ownership rights to all novel drug candidates resulting from the collaboration.

Rakovina Therapeutics will present the initial results of this research in a poster presentation at the Society for Neuro-Oncology Annual Meeting, November 21-24, 2024, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

Additionally, in September 2024, the Company announced an agreement with Vancouver-based Variational AI to leverage the capabilities of the Enki™ AI platform, trained to identify novel inhibitors of specific kinase targets in the DDR space. Rakovina Therapeutics expects initial results from this research in the next few months.

About Rakovina Therapeutics Inc.
Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. is focused on developing new cancer treatments based on novel DNA damage response technologies. The Company has developed a pipeline of novel DNA damage response inhibitors with the goal of advancing one or more drug candidates into human clinical trials and obtaining marketing approval for new cancer therapeutics from Health Canada, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and similar international organizations receive regulatory authorities. For more information, visit www.rakovinatherapeutics.com

The TSXV has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Note Regarding Rakovina Therapeutics' Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company and its respective businesses, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's proposed business plan and other statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “plans,” “is expected,” “expects,” “scheduled,” “intends,” “contemplates,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “proposes.” ” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or indicates that certain actions, events or results “may,” “could,” “would,” “could” or “will” be taken. occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on management's current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur on certain specified dates or at all and may differ materially due to known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company, including risks related to the medical device industry and economic, regulatory factors Factors affecting stock markets in general and risks associated with growth and competition.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause the actions, events or results or results differ from those expected. appreciated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events, or otherwise. For a more detailed discussion of all applicable risk factors and their potential impact, the reader is referred to the Company's most recent filings on SEDAR. Copies thereof may be obtained from the Company's profile page at www.sedar.com.

For further information contact:

Jeffrey Bacha, BSC, MBA
Executive Chairman and Director
[email protected]

Investor Relations and Media:
Ira M. Gostin
Investor relations
[email protected]
775-391-0213