Vancouver’s Rakovina Therapeutics is evolving their business model to place the biopharmaceutical company at the forefront of artificial intelligence-driven (AI) precision medicine for cancer drug development research.
Dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients through the development of novel DNA-damage response inhibitor therapeutics, Rakovina has entered into a collaboration agreement with Dr. Artem Cherkasov which grants the company exclusive access to the proprietary Deep Docking AI Platform for DNA-damage response targets.
Using the Deep Docking platform powered by advanced AI algorithms, Rakovina can now quickly analyze billions of molecular structures to evaluate their potential as targeted cancer drugs.
The company then validates the activity using its established R&D infrastructure. This approach can develop new drug therapies that target DNA-damage response-related vulnerabilities common in many types of cancer.
Dr. Cherkasov is a professor at the University of British Columbia and a senior scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and was appointed to the company’s scientific advisory board in 2023.
“This strategic change of business for us is a significant step forward in Rakovina’s mission,” said Executive Chair Jeffrey Bacha.
“The Deep Docking AI Platform will rapidly screen billions of drug candidates against validated DNA-damage response targets, predicting safety, efficacy and pharmaceutical properties. We can then validate their activity in our confirmatory assays and advance the most promising drug candidates through human clinical trials and pharmaceutical partnerships.”
Rakovina Therapeutics was founded in 2021 and trades on the TSX-V under the symbol RKV.
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