Tenax Therapeutics Announces Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tenax Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TENX) (“Tenax” or “Tenax Therapeutics” or the “Company”), a Phase 3, development-stage pharmaceutical company using clinical insights to develop novel cardiopulmonary therapies, today announced it has awarded or will award inducement option awards between April 28, 2026 and June 1, 2026 as material inducements to the employment of four non-executive individuals newly hired by the Company in various clinical operations, medical, product development, and commercial roles.

The employees received or will receive, in the aggregate, non-qualified stock options to purchase 657,500 shares of the Company's common stock with an exercise price equal to the closing price of the Company's common stock as reported by Nasdaq on the start date of each respective employee, 25% of which will vest and become exercisable on the first anniversary of the grant date, and the remaining underlying shares will vest in 36 substantially equal installments each month thereafter, subject to the employee's continued service with the Company through each applicable vesting date; collectively, the "Awards."

The Awards were each approved by the Board's Compensation Committee, which is comprised solely of independent directors, as material inducements to the employees entering into employment with the Company in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and were granted outside of the Company's stockholder-approved equity incentive plan.

Tenax Therapeutics, Inc. is a Phase 3, development-stage pharmaceutical company using clinical insights to develop novel cardiopulmonary therapies. The Company owns global rights to develop and commercialize levosimendan, including TNX-103 (oral levosimendan) which it is developing for the treatment of PH-HFpEF, the most prevalent form of pulmonary hypertension globally, for which no product has been approved to date. For more information, visitwww.tenaxthera.com. Tenax Therapeutics’ common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC under the symbol “TENX”.

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may include information concerning possible or projected future business operations. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: our ability to maintain our culture and recruit, integrate and retain qualified personnel and advisors, including our executives and on our Board of Directors; risks of our clinical trials, including, but not limited to, the timing, delays, costs, design, location, initiation, enrollment, and results of such trials; any delays in regulatory review and approval of product candidates in development; risks related to our business strategy, including the prioritization and development of product candidates; our estimates regarding the potential market opportunity for our product candidates; reliance on third parties, including Orion Corporation, our manufacturers and CROs; risks regarding the formulation, production, marketing, customer acceptance and clinical utility of our product candidates; the potential advantages of our product candidates; our competitive position; intellectual property risks; volatility and uncertainty in the global economy and financial markets in light of unexpected changes in tariffs and the possibility of pandemics, global financial and geopolitical uncertainties, including in the Middle East and the Russian invasion of and war against the country of Ukraine; risks associated with our cash needs; changes in legal, regulatory and legislative environments in the markets in which we operate, and the impact of these changes on our ability to obtain regulatory approval for our products; and other risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in our SEC filings. Tenax Therapeutics assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law.

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