Tricida Announces Hiring of Jeroen van Beek, Ph.D., as Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice President

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tricida, Inc. today announced the hiring of Jeroen van Beek, Ph.D., as Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice President. Dr. van Beek will lead Tricida’s commercial planning and operations functions.

“Jeroen has extensive experience bringing valuable treatments to patients who suffer from serious diseases. He will start building a world-class commercial organization with initial focus on helping nephrologists, payers and patients understand the well-documented impact of metabolic acidosis on renal disease progression while we complete our Phase 3 development program this year,” said Gerrit Klaerner, Ph.D., Tricida’s Chief Executive Officer, President and Board Member.

Dr. van Beek worked for the last 10 years at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he was most recently Vice President, Global Commercial Operations and Development, in charge of the global Soliris^® franchise with sales of over $3 billion annually. At Alexion, Dr. van Beek was responsible for the industry-leading launches of Soliris^® in two diseases, including a rare kidney disease. Prior to his time at Alexion, Dr. van Beek worked at Pfizer as Marketing Director, Oncology where he was responsible for launching Sutent^® for two indications: renal cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Dr. van Beek received a B.S. in Chemistry with Distinction from the University of Virginia, an M.S. and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

“I am very pleased to join Tricida, as I am convinced that TRC101 is poised to transform the care of patients suffering from metabolic acidosis and chronic kidney disease,” said Dr. van Beek. “I look forward to working with Gerrit and the entire Tricida team as we build our commercial operations.”

Dr. van Beek’s start date coincides with Tricida’s previously announced presentation at the 36th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, in San Francisco, California. The presentation is scheduled for 7:30 am PST.

About Tricida

Tricida, Inc., is a privately-held, clinical stage, biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of non-absorbed oral drug therapies. Tricida’s lead investigational drug candidate, TRC101, represents a first-in-class approach for the treatment of metabolic acidosis, a common complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) that can result in accelerated progression of kidney disease, progressive muscle breakdown, exacerbation of bone disease, and an increased rate of mortality. In January 2016, the FDA accepted Tricida’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for TRC101. The company has since successfully completed a Phase 1/2 double-blind, placebo-controlled study (TRCA-101) in which the safety, tolerability and efficacy of TRC101 were evaluated in subjects with CKD and low serum bicarbonate. Tricida is currently conducting a Phase 3 study (TRCA-301) of TRC101 for the treatment of metabolic acidosis associated with CKD designed to serve as the basis for the submission of a U.S. New Drug Application for TRC101 under the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements, including, for example, potential therapeutic capabilities, potential medical need and market size, and our expected timeline of development. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. For example, many drug candidates entering Phase 3 trials do not become approved drugs. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Tricida’s current views with respect to future events, and Tricida does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

For more information, visit www.tricida.com.

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