AM-Pharma Announces the Appointment of Rita Jain M.D. to its Supervisory Board

UTRECHT, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM-Pharma B.V., an emerging leader focused on the treatment of acute kidney injury, today announced the appointment of Rita Jain, M.D., to the Company’s Supervisory Board. With over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical development, Dr. Jain most recently was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Akebia Therapeutics, a public company developing drugs to address the complications of kidney disease. She also currently serves on the board of NASDAQ-listed ChemoCentryx, supporting the company in developing therapeutics targeting inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases and cancer.

“Rita brings extensive experience in drug development, including the field of renal diseases, and has seen all aspects of the clinical development pathway during her years at Akebia and AbbVie,” stated Erik van den Berg, CEO at AM-Pharma. “She joins our supervisory board on the cusp of our initiation of the pivotal REVIVAL Phase III trial and she will be incredibly valuable as we plan to advance recAP into late-stage development for sepsis-associated acute kidney injury.”

“I am impressed by the data and the clinical trial execution demonstrated in AM-Pharma’s multinational Phase II STOP-AKI trial in patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury,” said Rita Jain, M.D. “The data underscores the solid basis for the pivotal Phase III trial with the Company’s wholly-owned recAP therapeutic and I am looking forward to supporting AM-Pharma in achieving its clinical and corporate goals.”

During her tenure at Akebia, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company, Dr. Jain led the clinical development program for vadadustat, including the advancement of multiple global pivotal Phase III studies. Vadadustat is an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI) in development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease, and Akebia recently announced positive top-line results from two Phase III studies evaluating vadadustat. Prior to this time, Dr. Jain was Vice President of Men’s and Women’s Health and Metabolic Development at AbbVie, where she most recently led the successful completion of the Phase II uterine fibroid program and the Phase III endometriosis program, which led to the FDA approval for ORILISSA (elagolix), managing endometriosis pain. She also led development programs in a number of areas including, cystic fibrosis, men’s health, respiratory and pain development. Before her time at AbbVie, she held several senior leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories, including Vice President in Pharmaceutical Development and various management positions at Pharmacia Corp (formerly G.D. Searle). Previously, Dr. Jain was a faculty member at North Shore University Hospital in New York, with an academic appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine.

Dr. Jain received her B.S. in biology from LIU/C.W. Post and her M.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine. She completed her medical training in internal medicine at Staten Island University Hospital followed by a Fellowship in Rheumatology at North Shore University Hospital and a Clinical Research Fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

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About AM-Pharma
AM‐Pharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, leading in the development of a treatment for acute kidney injury (AKI) with its innovative recombinant human Alkaline Phosphatase therapeutic (recAP). AKI affects millions of patients worldwide. It is a devastating disease with high mortality rate and no approved pharmacological treatments. AM-Pharma reported positive results from a Phase II study of recAP in patients with sepsis associated AKI (SA-AKI) and the Company is preparing to initiate a pivotal Phase III trial of recAP in patients with SA-AKI. AM-Pharma is also exploring the development of recAP for other indications. Founded in 2001, AM-Pharma is a private company that is based in the Netherlands. The Company is backed by a strong syndicate of international investors, both Venture Capital funds and Corporate Venture Funds, and has raised over €240m in equity and debt to date.

Find out more about us online at: www.am-pharma.com.