Ardelyx Appoints Jeremy S. Caldwell, Ph.D., as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
FREMONT, Calif., Dec. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ardelyx, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on cardio-renal, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases, today announced the appointment of Jeremy S. Caldwell, Ph.D., as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Caldwell brings a wealth of experience in drug discovery and development at several major pharmaceutical companies and in the biotechnology industry as an entrepreneur, having most recently served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Third Rock Ventures.
"Jeremy has played a key role in advancing breakthrough discovery and research platforms in life sciences innovation, and we are extremely pleased to announce he is joining our team," said Mike Raab, President and Chief Executive Officer. "His insights and expertise will be instrumental during this pivotal time for Ardelyx as we seek to further expand our research engine and continue to leverage our proprietary pipeline in disease areas with substantial unmet needs."
"There is profound and untapped potential in developing breakthrough medicines by modulating disease physiology through the GI tract," stated Dr. Caldwell. "Ardelyx has developed the chemistry and biology tools to be at the forefront of this opportunity."
Dr. Caldwell has spent the last 20 years bringing innovative therapies to the clinic and developing novel drug discovery platforms for applications in patients. Jeremy brings significant experience leading science-driven research organizations within large pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, and biotechnology companies. Most recently, Jeremy was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Third Rock Ventures focusing on the formation and development of life science companies. Prior to joining Third Rock, Jeremy served as Vice President, Head of RNA Therapeutics, Lead Discovery and Protein Sciences for Merck Research Laboratories, where he oversaw all aspects of the discovery and development of RNA-based therapeutics, as well as small molecule lead generation. Before that, he led the integration of legacy Merck and Schering Plough discovery and preclinical functions as the founding head of strategic operations. Prior to joining Merck in 2008, Jeremy was the Executive Director of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Lead Discovery and Genomics at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF). In this role, Jeremy was responsible for building major aspects of the drug discovery and technology infrastructure, significantly contributing to the success of the drug discovery pipeline coming from GNF across therapeutic areas including oncology, infectious disease, immune-based and metabolic disorders. Additionally, he was Chairman and Head of GNF's Technology and Early Research Committee, in which he was responsible for the novel target and new technology portfolio. Jeremy was one of the first scientists at the biopharmaceutical company Rigel Inc., a company founded on the transformative mammalian genetics technology he developed at Stanford University as part of his Ph.D. thesis.
Jeremy has worked as an independent consultant to several biotechnology companies in the areas of genomics/proteomics, cell biology, RNA therapeutics, and drug discovery, and co-founded the biopharmaceutical company Kalypsys Inc. Dr. Caldwell received a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Stanford University. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and is the lead inventor on over 17 issued and pending patent applications.
Dr. Caldwell replaces Dominique Charmot, Ph.D., who announced his retirement from Ardelyx in September effective December 23, 2014.
About Ardelyx, Inc.
Ardelyx is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative, minimally-systemic, small molecule therapeutics that work exclusively in the gastrointestinal tract to treat cardio-renal, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. The Company has developed a proprietary drug discovery and design platform enabling it, in a rapid and cost-efficient manner, to discover and design novel drug candidates. Utilizing this platform, Ardelyx has discovered and designed tenapanor. Ardelyx formed a collaborative partnership with AstraZeneca in October 2012 to develop and commercialize tenapanor. In October 2014, Ardelyx announced positive results from its Phase 2b clinical trial evaluating tenapanor in patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C). Ardelyx and AstraZeneca are also evaluating tenapanor in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia associated with patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis (ESRD5D), and sodium and fluid overload in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In addition to tenapanor, the Company has discovered small molecule NaP2b inhibitors for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in ESRD, a program licensed to Sanofi, and independently is advancing several additional research programs focused in cardio-renal, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. Ardelyx is located in Fremont, California. For more information, please visit Ardelyx's website at www.ardelyx.com.
Forward Looking Statements
To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts regarding Ardelyx, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the potential to expand our research and leverage our proprietary pipeline to address unmet medical needs, the potential for tenapanor in treating IBS-C patients, the potential for tenapanor in treating the renal indications for which it is currently being evaluated, and the potential of our drug discovery and design platform. Such forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause the development of tenapanor, or Ardelyx's future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the research and the clinical development process, Ardelyx's reliance upon AstraZeneca for the development of tenapanor, and AstraZeneca's right under the license agreement to choose which indication or indications for which tenapanor will be developed. Ardelyx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to Ardelyx's business in general, please refer to Ardelyx's third quarter report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 7, 2014.
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SOURCE Ardelyx, Inc.
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