SEATTLE – Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KDNY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of precision medicines for kidney diseases, today announced that Tom Frohlich, chief business officer, has been promoted to chief operating officer (COO) of Chinook and Andrew King, D.V.M, Ph.D., head of renal discovery and translational medicine, has been promoted to chief scientific officer (CSO) of Chinook.
“We are thrilled to announce these extremely well-deserved promotions for both Tom and Andrew to recognize the important roles they are playing in building Chinook into a leading kidney disease company,” said Eric Dobmeier, president and chief executive officer of Chinook Therapeutics. “Tom is a seasoned commercial and business development executive who co-founded Chinook, led business negotiations with AbbVie for our license to atrasentan and our merger with Aduro, and has assumed broad operational responsibilities at the company. Andrew is a highly-respected expert in kidney disease biology who was instrumental in bringing both atrasentan and BION-1301 into our pipeline and leads a top-notch discovery, research and translational medicine team at Chinook focused on advancing our pipeline of novel, precision medicines for kidney disease.”
In his role as COO, Tom will oversee Chinook’s business development, CMC, quality, new product planning, program management and program team leadership functions. Tom co-founded and joined Chinook in January 2019 as chief business officer. Prior to Chinook, he served as entrepreneur-in-residence at Versant Ventures. From 2014 to 2018, Tom was VP of business development at Arbutus Biopharma, where he played a key role in multiple transactions including a licensing deal with Alexion and the merger of Tekmira/Oncore. Prior to that, Tom spent over 12 years working internationally at J&J and Merck in various roles leading commercial strategy across all stages of product development, including the global launches of telaprevir and Stelara. Tom has a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Victoria and an MBA from the University of Oxford.
In his role as CSO, Andrew will oversee the discovery research, non-clinical development and translational medicine teams. Andrew joined Chinook in May 2019 as head of renal discovery and translational medicine. Prior to joining Chinook, Andrew was senior director of discovery and translational biology at Ardelyx, where he and his teams played key roles in delivering small molecule candidates for the treatment of cardio-renal diseases, as well as elucidating the novel molecular mechanism of action of tenapanor, currently under NDA review by the FDA for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in dialysis patients. Previously, Andrew spent over seven years at AbbVie in roles of increasing responsibility and led the renal discovery scientific strategy to treat chronic kidney disease. Andrew received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Michigan State University and completed training in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at Murdoch University in Australia.
About Chinook Therapeutics, Inc.
Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision medicines for kidney diseases. Chinook’s product candidates are being investigated in rare, severe chronic kidney disorders with opportunities for well-defined clinical pathways. Chinook’s lead program is atrasentan, a phase 3 endothelin receptor antagonist for the treatment of IgA nephropathy and other proteinuric glomerular diseases. BION-1301, an anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody is being evaluated in a phase 1b trial for IgA nephropathy. In addition, Chinook is advancing CHK-336, an oral small molecule LDHA inhibitor for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria, as well as research programs for other rare, severe chronic kidney diseases. Chinook is building its pipeline by leveraging insights in kidney single cell RNA sequencing, human-derived organoids and new translational models, to discover and develop therapeutics with differentiating mechanisms of action against key kidney disease pathways. To learn more, visit www.chinooktx.com.
Contact:
Noopur Liffick
Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
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