CINCINNATI, OH--(Marketwire - June 25, 2009) - Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a discovery and
development company focused on anemia and vascular disorders, today
announced the appointment of Ian A. W. Howes to the position of chief
financial officer and vice president, corporate development. Mr. Howes will
serve as a member of Akebia's senior management team, and brings extensive
finance, business development and operational experience to the company.
"We are extremely pleased to have Ian join Akebia. He brings a wealth of
senior level financial and corporate development experience and leadership
to the company. We have a number of very exciting programs underway and
Ian's experience in capital management, corporate development and
operations will be essential in helping the company successfully move into
our next phase of value creation," said Dr. Joseph Gardner, president and
chief executive officer at Akebia.
"I am excited to be joining a company with such clearly differentiated
products which are potential breakthrough new therapies and treatments for
patients with anemia, vascular disorders, wound healing and cancer," said
Mr. Howes. "Akebia is expecting important near-term milestones including
moving its first product into the clinic for anemia and preparing to
publish groundbreaking preclinical results for an additional program,
making this a particularly exciting time to join the company."
Mr. Howes joins Akebia from Serenex, Inc., where he held the position of
chief financial officer and senior vice president, corporate development.
In this position, Mr. Howes was responsible for generating over $75 million
in private equity and debt capital and managing the sale of the company to
Pfizer, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Howes was chief financial officer and vice
president, operations at Paradigm Genetics, Inc.
About Akebia Therapeutics
Akebia Therapeutics is a discovery and development company focused on
anemia and vascular disorders. An IND for Akebia's lead program, AKB-6548,
an orally bioavailable HIF- prolyl hydroxylase (HIFPH) inhibitor for
patients with anemia, is scheduled to be filed in July 2009.
The market for chronic anemia drugs, which generates over $10 billion in
worldwide sales, is dominated by injectable forms of the recombinant
protein growth factor EPO. There are currently no orally dosed small
molecule drugs for chronic anemia. AKB-6548 potentially promises to be a
safer, less expensive, orally dosed pharmaceutical to stimulate endogenous
EPO production. Additionally, Akebia has a novel HPTP beta inhibitor,
AKB-9778, for the treatment of vascular leak syndromes and peripheral
artery disease which will commence phase 1 clinical trials in mid-2010.
Website: www.akebia.com.
