VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: RKV) (FSE: 7JO0) (OTCMKTS: RKVTF), a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative cancer therapies through AI-powered drug discovery, today announced that it has entered into a software licence agreement (the “Licence Agreement”) with privately held Artemis Therapeutics Inc. (“Artemis”) granting Rakovina an exclusive, worldwide and perpetual licence (the “Licence”) to use Artemis.AI™, Artemis’s artificial intelligence (AI), computational chemistry and machine-learning platform, including its Deep Docking™ technology, for DNA-damage response (DDR) oncology drug discovery and development.

The Licence covers the entire DDR oncology field including the targets of Rakovina’s current programs. Rakovina pays for the Licence in two share tranches, with no cash licence fees, royalties or milestone payments, and owns the compounds it discovers.

“This exclusive license for Artemis.AI together with all future platform improvements in the field, creates a durable competitive advantage for Rakovina in the DDR oncology field,” said Kim Oishi, Chief Executive Officer of Rakovina Therapeutics. “Just as important are the people behind the platform. Dr. Cherkasov and the Artemis team, led by Frank Holler, have one of the strongest track records in AI-enabled drug discovery, and they will be working alongside Rakovina’s scientists led by Dr. Mads Daugaard. Our team has been further strengthened by the recent appointments of Dr. Ranjit Bindra, Scientific Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center, to our Scientific Advisory Board and Professor Petra Hamerlik, Chair of Translational Neuro-Oncology at the University of Manchester and former CNS Cancer Bioscience Lead at AstraZeneca, to our Board of Directors. Combining world-class AI with deep DDR biology and rigorous experimental validation is how we intend to turn computational designs into drug candidates ready for pharmaceutical partnership.”

“The technology behind Artemis.AI has a proven record. Drug candidates identified with it have been licensed to pharmaceutical companies and advanced into clinical trials, and Dr. Cherkasov’s team has won two international CACHE drug-discovery challenges and this year completed what we believe is the first trillion-molecule virtual screen,” said Frank Holler, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Artemis. “Our goal in every collaboration is to pair the platform with partners who bring deep knowledge of their targets and the laboratory capability to validate what the AI designs, and to share in the success of the candidates that emerge. Rakovina brings exactly that to DNA-damage response, and our option to co-develop selected candidates gives both companies a path to build value together.”

Key Terms of the Licence

Scope. Exclusive, worldwide and perpetual use of the Artemis.AI platform within DDR oncology drug discovery and development, including all updates and platform improvements and any platforms Artemis later licenses or acquires. The platform is hosted on Artemis’s servers, and up to ten hours of expert support per month are included.

Ownership and economics. Rakovina retains its existing compounds and programs, owns the compounds and data it generates with the platform, and may seek patent protection for them. No royalties or milestone payments are payable on drugs Rakovina discovers unless they are subject to a separate co-development agreement. Artemis retains ownership of the platform.

Co-development option. Artemis has a 60-day option to co-develop any platform-derived compound that Rakovina designates for development, on terms that share costs, risks and upside in proportion to each party’s contributions. Compounds Artemis declines, and programs developed without the platform, remain entirely Rakovina’s.

Exclusivity. The Licence may convert to non-exclusive if Rakovina has no active program in the field using the platform for 18 consecutive months and does not start one within 90 days after notice from Artemis.

Consideration. Rakovina will issue to Artemis common shares (“Shares”) with an aggregate deemed value of C$1,000,000 in two tranches: (i) 2,500,000 Shares at a deemed price of C$0.20 per Share, within 10 days after TSX Venture Exchange (“TSXV”) acceptance; and (ii) C$500,000 of Shares at a deemed price equal to the greater of C$0.265 and the Market Price at issuance (a maximum of 1,886,792 Shares), on the later of the first anniversary of the effective date and TSXV acceptance. The maximum of 4,386,792 Shares represents approximately 9.9% of Rakovina’s currently issued and outstanding shares. No Shares will be issued that would make Artemis a Control Person (as defined in TSXV policies) without prior shareholder approval. The Shares will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from issuance. No finder’s fees are payable.

The Licence Agreement is effective November 9, 2026. The issuance of Shares is subject to TSXV acceptance; if acceptance is refused and cannot be obtained within 90 days, either party may terminate the Licence Agreement. The Licence does not by itself establish a co-development arrangement for any compound or ensure that drug candidates will be identified, validated or approved.

Related-Party Disclosure

The Licence is a Non-Arm’s Length Party transaction under TSXV policies because Rakovina insiders have interests in Artemis. Frank Holler, a director of Rakovina, is Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Artemis. Dr. Mads Daugaard, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Rakovina, is a co-founder, director and Chief Scientific Officer of Artemis. Kim Oishi, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Rakovina, is a director of Artemis. In addition, Dr. Artem Cherkasov, co-founder, director and Chief Technology Officer of Artemis, is a member of Rakovina’s Scientific Advisory Board. Yevgeniy Meshcherekov, a director of Rakovina, is a director of Downstream Holdings Ltd., a shareholder of Artemis. Each of Mr. Holler, Dr. Daugaard, Mr. Oishi and Dr. Cherkasov is, directly or indirectly, a significant shareholder of Artemis.

Mr. Holler, Mr. Meshcherekov and Mr. Oishi declared their interests and abstained from voting on the Licence. The Licence was reviewed and approved by the Rakovina directors who are not related parties. In its review, the non-related party directors considered, among other things, a management analysis of the fair value of the Licence prepared using cost, income and market approaches, the terms of the Share consideration, the scope of the field, the co-development option and the exclusivity provisions, and concluded that the terms of the Licence are reasonable and in the best interests of Rakovina. The analysis is a management estimate and not an independent valuation or fairness opinion.

The Licence may constitute a “related party transaction” under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”). Rakovina is relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as neither the fair market value of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transaction, exceeds 25% of Rakovina’s market capitalization. Rakovina did not file a material change report more than 21 days before entering into the Licence Agreement because the terms were not finalized until shortly before signing. The Licence remains subject to TSXV acceptance.

About the Artemis Team

Artemis is led by Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Holler and Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Artem Cherkasov. Mr. Holler is a co-founder and former President and Chief Executive Officer of ID Biomedical Corporation, which was acquired by GSK for C$1.7 billion, a founding director of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, and a former President and Chief Executive Officer of Xenon Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Cherkasov holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Precision Cancer Drug Design, is a Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and heads the Therapeutics Development Core at the Vancouver Prostate Centre. He has co-authored more than 200 research papers and 80 patent filings, and eight drug candidates from his work have been licensed to pharmaceutical companies. His team developed Deep Docking™, which has been used to screen more than 40 billion molecules and placed first in two international CACHE Challenges, for Parkinson’s disease and COVID-19. Dr. Mads Daugaard, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Rakovina, is also a Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Artemis.

Artemis’s advisory board includes Dr. Alexander Tropsha, a leading researcher in cheminformatics and predictive modelling at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and selected to receive the American Chemical Society’s 2027 Herman Skolnik Award; Dr. Poul Sorensen, Distinguished Scientist at BC Cancer and Professor of Pathology at UBC, whose discovery of the NTRK gene fusion underpinned the tumour-agnostic cancer therapy Larotrectinib; Dr. S. Larry Goldenberg, Professor of Urologic Sciences at UBC and a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia; and Jordan Zwick, Chief Business Officer of Mirador Therapeutics.

About Artemis Therapeutics Inc.

Artemis Therapeutics Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company developing AI-enabled computational approaches to drug discovery. Emerging from more than two decades of research in computational chemistry, molecular modelling and AI-enabled drug discovery led by Dr. Artem Cherkasov and collaborators at UBC, Artemis aims to connect computational discovery with biological validation and the advancement of promising therapeutic candidates. For more information, please visit www.artemistherapeutics.ai.

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). 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.

For Further Information Contact:

Rakovina Therapeutics Inc.
Kim Oishi
CEO
Kim.oishi@rakovinatherapeutics.com

Mark Mitchell
Communications
IR@rakovinatherapeutics.com

Artemis Therapeutics Inc.
Vanessa Ooms
Communications
Vanessa@artemistherapeutics.ai

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.

Notice Regarding Rakovina Therapeutics Forward-Looking Statements:

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding the company and its respective business, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the proposed business plan of the company 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 state that certain actions, events, or results “may,” “could,” “would,” “might,” or “will” be taken, occur, or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of the company. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, including risks regarding the biopharmaceutical industry, economic factors, regulatory factors, the equity markets generally, and risks associated with growth and competition. Such risks also include, without limitation, the ability to obtain TSXV acceptance of the share issuance, the continued operation of Artemis and its continued right to license the platform, the possible conversion of the licence to non-exclusive, the performance and utility of AI-enabled discovery tools, the ability to identify and independently validate promising compounds, intellectual property considerations, and the availability of suitable co-development or commercial partners.

Although the company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events, or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated, 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 statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The reader is referred to the company’s most recent filings on SEDAR+ for a more complete discussion of all applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the company’s profile page at www.sedarplus.ca.