Ardelyx Appoints Veteran BioPharma Executive, Mike Kelliher, as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy

WALTHAM, Mass., March 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ardelyx, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARDX), a biopharmaceutical company founded with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize innovative, first-in-class medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs, today announced the appointment of Mike Kelliher to the position of Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy. Mr. Kelliher, an accomplished leader with more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, brings to Ardelyx an extensive array of mergers and acquisitions, business development, strategy, finance and operational leadership expertise from leading biotechnology and global pharmaceutical companies.

“This newly created position reflects the important inflection point at which we at Ardelyx find ourselves: Envisioning and building our future following the successful launch of two first-in-class medicines within the past two years,” said Mike Raab, president and chief executive officer of Ardelyx. “It is a pleasure to welcome Mike at this critical period of our growth. His experience and expertise defining and advancing corporate strategies along with his proven track record of delivering value-accretive collaborations and transactions strengthen our leadership team and position us for success. We are excited to welcome Mike to Team Ardelyx.”

“Ardelyx is a values-driven organization with a clear focus on the patient, established following the launch of two products, both of which provide a new option for patients who continued to have unmet treatment needs,” said Mr. Kelliher. “I am excited to join Ardelyx at this time as we explore all of the opportunities that the company has to advance in its next phase of growth. The company is well resourced, has a strong team at all levels of the organization and is establishing itself as a disruptor in the development and commercialization of innovative medicines. I look forward to being a part of this exciting evolution and contributing to the company's success.”

Most recently, Mr. Kelliher served as Group Vice President, M&A and Business Development, at Horizon Therapeutics, a global biotechnology company focused on researching, developing and commercializing medicines for rare, autoimmune and severe inflammatory diseases. Mr. Kelliher joined Horizon in 2014 and held roles of increasing responsibility on the team that led an aggressive growth and expansion agenda through acquisitions, development collaborations and other transactions, including the acquisition of Horizon by Amgen. He was instrumental in transforming Horizon into a $28 billion innovation-driven biotech company.

Prior to his time at Horizon, from 2009 to 2014, Mr. Kelliher held financial roles at Elan Corporation (now Perrigo Company), a leading global pharmaceutical company where he oversaw strategic partnerships and collaborations and advised its Board of Directors and senior leadership on investments, business development, product commercialization and asset monetization. Mr. Kelliher began his career in banking, public accounting and corporate finance and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University College Cork (Ireland). He is also an Associated Chartered Accountant.

About Ardelyx
Ardelyx was founded with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize innovative, first-in-class medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs. Ardelyx has two commercial products approved in the United States, IBSRELA^® (tenapanor) and XPHOZAH^® (tenapanor) as well as early-stage pipeline candidates. Ardelyx has agreements for the development and commercialization of tenapanor outside of the U.S. Kyowa Kirin commercializes PHOZEVEL^® (tenapanor) for hyperphosphatemia in Japan. A New Drug Application for tenapanor for hyperphosphatemia has been submitted in China with Fosun Pharma. Knight Therapeutics commercializes IBSRELA in Canada. For more information, please visit https://ardelyx.com/ and connect with us on X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook.

Investor and Media Contacts:
Caitlin Lowie
clowie@ardelyx.com