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.