Chinook Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Eric Bjerkholt as Chief Financial Officer

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and SEATTLE, Nov. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 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 the appointment of Eric Bjerkholt as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
“We are pleased to welcome Eric to Chinook as we prepare to initiate our phase 3 ALIGN and phase 2 AFFINITY trials for atrasentan, and advance development of BION-1301, a novel anti-APRIL antibody for IgA nephropathy, and CHK-336, a novel oral small molecule LDHA inhibitor for primary hyperoxaluria,” said Eric Dobmeier, president and chief executive officer of Chinook Therapeutics. “As we prepare for this next phase of growth, Eric’s three decades of leadership, finance, strategy, business development and operations expertise in the healthcare and biotech industries will be instrumental to Chinook.”Mr. Bjerkholt joins Chinook from Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc., where he most recently served as CFO overseeing financial reporting, budgeting, internal controls, investor relations, business development, facilities and information technology, and also led the acquisition of Aimmune by Nestlé Health Science for $2.6 billion. Prior to Aimmune, Mr. Bjerkholt spent 13 years at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where in addition to CFO, he served in various capacities, including Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and Finance, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. Previously, Mr. Bjerkholt held senior executive finance roles at IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., LifeSpring Nutrition, Inc. and Age Wave, LLC and spent seven years in healthcare investment banking at J.P. Morgan & Company, Inc. Mr. Bjerkholt is currently a member of the board of directors of Graybug Vision, Inc. as well as a member of the board of directors and chair of the audit committee of Cerus Corporation. Mr. Bjerkholt holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a Cand.Oecon. from University of Oslo in Norway.“I am thrilled to join Chinook to help build a leading company in the kidney disease space,” said Mr. Bjerkholt. “I look forward to collaborating with Chinook’s team to achieve value-creating milestones and advance the company’s clinical, preclinical and research and discovery programs while making a meaningful impact for patients with rare, severe chronic kidney diseases.”About Chinook Therapeutics, Inc.
Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology 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, an investigational Phase 3-ready endothelin receptor antagonist for the treatment of IgA nephropathy and other primary glomerular diseases. BION-1301, an investigational anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody is being evaluated in a Phase 1b trial for IgA nephropathy. In addition, Chinook is advancing CHK-336, a small-molecule preclinical development candidate for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria, as well as research programs for other rare, severe chronic kidney diseases, including polycystic kidney disease. 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.Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements made in this press release are forward looking, including those relating to Chinook’s business, future operations, advancement of its product candidates and product pipeline, clinical development of its product candidates, including expectations regarding timing of initiation and results of clinical trials. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “may,” “will,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “project,” “expect” or the negative or plural of these words or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated, including, but not limited to, our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates, whether results of early clinical trials or preclinical studies will be indicative of the results of future trials, our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, our ability to operate in a competitive industry and compete successfully against competitors that may be more advanced or have greater resources than we do, our ability to obtain and adequately protect intellectual property rights for our product candidates and the effects of COVID-19 on our clinical programs and business operations. Many of these risks are described in greater detail in our filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Chinook assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.Contact:
Noopur Liffick
Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
510-809-2465
investors@chinooktx.com
media@chinooktx.com