VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: RKV) (FSE: 7JO0) a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative cancer therapies through AI-powered drug discovery, today announced the appointment of Dr. Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, to its Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”). Dr. Bindra is the Scientific Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center and the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at the Yale School of Medicine.

“Dr. Bindra is a leader in the discovery, development and application of cancer therapies in the DNA-damage response field, and his appointment comes at an important moment for our Company,” said Kim Oishi, Chief Executive Officer of Rakovina Therapeutics. “His laboratory has a track record of turning fundamental discoveries in DNA repair into biomarker-driven clinical trials, and he has founded multiple oncology companies, one of which was acquired by Merck in 2024. That combination of scientific depth and commercial execution is exactly what we want guiding our programs as we advance toward IND-enabling studies.”

Dr. Bindra’s research sits at the intersection of several areas central to Rakovina’s pipeline, including synthetic lethality in DNA repair-deficient tumors, the therapeutic application of PARP and ATR inhibition, and strategies designed to enable blood-brain barrier penetration. His group led the discovery that IDH1/2-mutant tumors harbor a profound DNA repair defect that renders them highly sensitive to PARP inhibitors, work published in Nature, Nature Genetics, and Science Translational Medicine, and he is lead co-principal investigator of a 35-site, NCI-sponsored Phase II trial evaluating the PARP inhibitor olaparib in IDH1/2-mutant solid tumors.

“The central problem in treating brain tumors is not that we lack good targets, it is that most of the drugs we would want to use never reach them,” said Dr. Bindra. “Rakovina is pursuing DNA repair vulnerabilities with AI-designed molecules built from the outset to cross the blood-brain barrier. The team presented in vivo data on that approach at AACR this year. I have spent my career trying to move DNA repair biology out of the laboratory and into trials for patients who have very few options, and I am glad to be joining this team as it advances these programs toward the clinic.”

Dr. Bindra joins existing Scientific Advisory Board members Dr. Dennis Brown, PhD (Chair), Prof. Petra Hamerlik, Prof. Artem Cherkasov, and Dr. Leonard Post, PhD, each of whom brings decades of drug discovery and development experience to their advisory roles.

“Ranjit’s expertise is highly complementary to the work our team is doing across all three of our programs,” said Dr. Mads Daugaard, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Rakovina Therapeutics. “He has published on the synergy between ATR inhibition and DNA-damaging agents, he treats brain tumor patients clinically, and he understands the delivery challenges that define this field. As we advance our brain-penetrant DDR inhibitor programs, having a clinician-scientist of his calibre in the room will sharpen how we prioritize and translate our science.”

About Prof. Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD

Dr. Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD is the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at the Yale School of Medicine and Scientific Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center. A physician-scientist and radiation oncologist, he treats adult and pediatric patients with primary brain tumors and brain metastases using advanced radiation and radiosurgery.

His research focuses on uncovering fundamental DNA repair vulnerabilities in cancer and translating these discoveries into new therapies. His laboratory discovered that IDH1/2-mutant cancers harbor a profound defect in DNA repair that creates a powerful therapeutic vulnerability to PARP inhibition, work published in Nature, Nature Genetics, and Science Translational Medicine that has helped reshape the understanding of DNA repair targeting in cancer. More recently, his group reported a new strategy to exploit DNA repair defects through targeted DNA modification, published in Science, opening new avenues for therapeutic development.

Dr. Bindra is also an active biotech entrepreneur and has founded multiple biotechnology companies based on discoveries from his laboratory, including Cybrexa Therapeutics, Alphina Therapeutics, and Modifi Biosciences. Under his leadership as interim CEO, Modifi Biosciences was acquired by Merck in 2024.

He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his MD and PhD from the Yale School of Medicine and completed his residency and postdoctoral research training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Corporate Update

The Company would also like to provide the following corporate updates:

• SR&ED tax refund: The Company received a gross Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax refund of $920,846.10, including interest. Administered by the Canada Revenue Agency, SR&ED is Canada’s largest federal program supporting business research and development, providing tax incentives to companies that carry out experimental development and applied research within Canada. Rakovina’s refund reflects the scale of the Company’s research activity, which pairs AI-driven molecular design with laboratory validation at the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Prostate Centre to develop novel inhibitors of the DNA-damage response. The funds will support advancement of Rakovina’s pipeline, including in vivo ADME and efficacy testing for the kt-5000AI dual ATR/mTOR inhibitor program, continued AI-driven lead optimization through the Company’s collaboration with Variational AI, advancement of the kt-3000 LNP formulation program, and ongoing kt-2000AI compound development.
• Stock option grants: The Company’s board of directors has approved the grant of an aggregate of 2,910,500 stock options (the “Options”) to certain consultants, employees, officers and directors of the Company pursuant to the Company’s Long Term Incentive Plan. Each Option is exercisable at a price of $0.20 per common share and expires on the fifth anniversary of the grant date. The Options vest as to one quarter of each award every three months following the grant date, becoming fully vested one year after the grant date.

About Rakovina Therapeutics Inc.

Rakovina Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical research company focused on the development of innovative cancer treatments. Our work is based on unique technologies for targeting the DNA-damage response powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) using validated, proprietary platforms. By using AI, we can review and optimize drug candidates at a much greater pace than ever before.

The Company has established a pipeline of distinctive DNA-damage response inhibitors with the goal of advancing one or more drug candidates into human clinical trials in collaboration with pharmaceutical partners. Further information may be found at www.rakovinatherapeutics.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For Further Information Contact:

Kim Oishi
CEO
Kim.oishi@rakovinatherapeutics.com

Mark Mitchell
Director, IR & Communications
IR@rakovinatherapeutics.com

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