Achieve Life Sciences Becomes AchieveRx, The Quit Company, and Will Trade Under the Ticker QUIT

New name and ticker reflect a mission-driven company with one purpose: developing medicine for people who want to quit smoking or vaping. If approved, cytisinicline would be the first new medicine approved by the FDA for quitting smoking in 20 years, and potentially the first ever for quitting vaping.

SEATTLE and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACHV) today announced that it has rebranded and will now be doing business as AchieveRx™, The Quit Company™ (AchieveRx or the Company), a late-stage pharmaceutical company focused on nicotine dependence. The Company’s common stock is expected to begin trading on Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol QUIT on November 10, 2026. The Company’s CUSIP number will not change, and no action is required by shareholders. The Company’s website is now www.AchieveRx.com.

AchieveRx has one mission: developing medicine for quitting both smoking and vaping. That medicine is cytisinicline, an investigational compound. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and no medicine has ever been approved for quitting vaping. The change comes as a new leadership team moves the Company from clinical development toward commercial readiness.

Chemistry, not character

Nicotine dependence lives in receptors and chemistry, not in character. It deserves medicine backed by evidence and studied with rigor. That is what the new name stands for. Every act of quitting, at any age, any stage of life, and for any reason, is worth celebrating. Most adults who smoke want to quit, and about half try each year.¹ AchieveRx is developing cytisinicline for the next attempt. Three ideas guide the Company: Simplicity. Science. Second chances, for good.™

“Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and helping people quit is one of the clearest ways to improve human health at scale. As a critical care and emergency medicine physician, I’ve seen what smoking steals from families, and I’ve seen what returns in the moments soon after someone quits and in the years that follow. No new medicine for quitting smoking has been approved by the FDA in 20 years. Our new name and ticker say exactly what we are here to do,” said Andrew D. Goldberg, MD, Chief Executive Officer of AchieveRx.

What smoking takes, and why every quit matters

Approximately 25 million adults in the United States smoke cigarettes,² and nearly 18 million use e-cigarettes.² Smoking and secondhand smoke together cause more than 480,000 deaths in the United States each year.³ Secondhand smoke alone accounts for more than 41,000 of those deaths among adults who do not smoke and about 400 deaths from sudden infant death syndrome,³ and it causes respiratory infections, ear infections, and asthma attacks in children.³ Cigarette smoking cost the United States more than $600 billion in 2018, the most recent CDC estimate.⁴ Worldwide, tobacco use kills more than 7 million people a year.⁵ Behind each number are children, partners, parents, and friends who carry that loss.

Studied in the US, in the people who smoke today, and for whom quitting is hardest

Cytisinicline has been studied in three Phase 3 trials in people who smoke: ORCA-2 and ORCA-3, randomized, placebo-controlled trials published in JAMA⁶ and JAMA Internal Medicine,⁷ which together enrolled 1,602 adults, and ORCA-OL, a 52-week open-label safety study. Separately, a Phase 2 trial, ORCA-V1, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, enrolled 160 adults who vape.⁸ Every ORCA trial has been conducted in the United States, and ORCA-2 and ORCA-3 enrolled difficult-to-treat patients by design: a mean age of 52 with no upper age limit (ranging up to 84), a mean of 36 years of smoking, and conditions including hypertension, COPD, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, and a history of heart disease or cancer. Many had already tried to quit with medicine: approximately 42 percent of participants had used varenicline and 20 percent had used bupropion and were still smoking, and participants had made multiple prior quit attempts; those who smoked in ORCA-OL had made an estimated median of five quit attempts prior to enrollment.⁹ Read more in our recent release.

About AchieveRx, The Quit Company
AchieveRx, The Quit Company (Nasdaq: ACHV; QUIT effective November 10, 2026; formerly doing business as Achieve Life Sciences, Inc.) is a late-stage pharmaceutical company with a singular focus on nicotine dependence. AchieveRx’s mission is to develop medicine for people who want to quit smoking or vaping. That medicine is cytisinicline, an investigational compound. Three ideas guide the Company: simplicity, science, and second chances, for good™. To learn more, visit www.AchieveRx.com.

About Cytisinicline
Cytisinicline is an investigational compound that binds to nicotinic receptors. It is being developed as an oral tablet to aid smoking and e-cigarette cessation in adults. The FDA has granted the vaping cessation program Breakthrough Therapy designation and a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher. The New Drug Application (NDA) for cytisinicline for smoking cessation in adults is supported by two successfully completed Phase 3 studies (ORCA-2 and ORCA-3) and an open-label long-term safety study (ORCA-OL). The Company has also completed a Phase 2 study of cytisinicline in e-cigarette cessation (ORCA-V1) and held an end-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA.

Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements Achieve Life Sciences, Inc., doing business as AchieveRx as of November 9, 2026 (“AchieveRx”), makes regarding the timing, nature, and outcome of cytisinicline clinical development and regulatory review and approval, including whether cytisinicline would be the first new medicine approved by the FDA for smoking cessation in 20 years, data results, the timing, nature, and success of AchieveRx’s commercialization activities, the potential market size for cytisinicline, the potential benefits, efficacy, safety, and tolerability of cytisinicline, the development and effectiveness of new treatments, the performance of AchieveRx’s third-party manufacturing partners, the successful launch and commercialization of cytisinicline, the timing of the change in the Company’s ticker symbol, and statements concerning AchieveRx’s future plans and prospects. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. AchieveRx may not actually achieve its plans or product development goals in a timely manner, if at all, or otherwise carry out its intentions or meet its expectations or projections disclosed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, including those described in Achieve Life Sciences, Inc.’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. AchieveRx undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained herein or to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof, other than as may be required by applicable law.

Contacts:
Media
Kaitlyn Tuson
media@achieverx.com

Investors
Nicole Jones
ir@achieverx.com
425-686-1510

References
¹ VanFrank B, et al. Adult Smoking Cessation, United States, 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73(29):633-641.

² Agaku I. Tobacco Product Use among U.S. Adults, 2023–2024. NEJM Evidence. 2026;5(4). doi: 10.1056/EVIDpha2500339.

³ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking, 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2014.

⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Economic Trends in Tobacco.

⁵ World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2025. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025.

⁶ Rigotti NA, Benowitz NL, Prochaska J, et al. Cytisinicline for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2023;330(2):152-160. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.10042.

⁷ Rigotti NA, Benowitz NL, Prochaska JJ, et al. Cytisinicline for Smoking Cessation: The ORCA Phase 3 Replication Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2025;185(6):648-655. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.0628.

⁸ Rigotti NA, Benowitz NL, Prochaska JJ, et al. Cytisinicline for Vaping Cessation in Adults Using Nicotine E-Cigarettes: The ORCA-V1 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2024;184(8):922-930. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.1313.

⁹ Estimated by adding the prior ORCA trial quit attempt to quit attempts reported at entry to the earlier trial.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be8ae02c-9216-4d6b-82f2-8ce20b02ca18