The Role of Chief Executive Officer Transitioning From Ron
Bentsur to Greg Madison
NEW YORK and BOSTON, Jan. 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keryx
Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:KERX) (the "Company") today announced
it will be transitioning the role of Chief Executive Officer from Ron
Bentsur to its current Chief Operating Officer, Greg Madison. Mr.
Bentsur has led Keryx for the past 5 years, culminating in U.S. Food
and Drug Administration approval and year-end 2014 launch of
Auryxia(TM) (ferric citrate). Mr. Madison joined Keryx in February 2014
as Chief Operating Officer to transition the Company from a
development-stage organization into a fully integrated commercial
entity, bringing to Keryx a wealth of relevant expertise in both the
phosphate binder and iron deficiency anemia markets. Mr. Madison has
been appointed President of Keryx and will work with Mr. Bentsur to
ensure a successful leadership transition by the end of May, when Mr.
Bentsur's contract expires.
"It has been a privilege to lead Keryx for the past 5 years through the
approval and year-end launch of Auryxia and I thank all of our
employees for their tremendous dedication and commitment to position
Keryx for future success," said Ron Bentsur, Chief Executive Officer of
Keryx. "With Keryx's focus having shifted from development to a
commercial enterprise, it is a logical point in the evolution of the
Company for a change in leadership and Greg and I will work closely
over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition. I have the utmost
confidence in Greg's ability to take Keryx to the next level."
"I am truly excited about being asked to lead Keryx at this important
stage of our Company's evolution," said Mr. Madison. "With an
exceptional team in place, a truly differentiated product, and a
deep-rooted commitment to the renal community, I am confident that we
will build a leading renal franchise, delivering value to all
stakeholders - patients, physicians, providers, employees and our
shareholders."
"On behalf of the entire Keryx Board, I want to thank Ron for his years
of service to Keryx, his leadership of this organization, his
commitment and drive to the successful development and approval of
Auryxia, and his contributions to the Company's Board of Directors,"
stated Michael Tarnok, Chairman of Keryx's Board of Directors. "Greg
has done an outstanding job building the organization and readying us
for Auryxia's launch in a very short period of time. We are confident
that the combination of his leadership skills and experience,
particularly at Genzyme where he ran the renal division, makes Greg the
ideal leader for Keryx as we continue to build a world-class renal
company."
Prior to joining Keryx, Mr. Madison served as the Executive Vice
President and Chief Commercial Officer of AMAG Pharmaceuticals where he
led the team to significant growth in net revenues. Prior to AMAG, Mr.
Madison spent 12 years at Genzyme/Sanofi developing extensive
commercial and general management expertise as he progressed into roles
of increasing responsibilities and leadership, culminating in his most
recent role as Vice President and General Manager of the Renal
division. In this role, Mr. Madison led a global organization with
three marketed products with combined revenues exceeding $1 billion.
Mr. Madison's prior experience in the Renal division included serving
as Vice President and General Manager of the U.S. business; Vice
President of U.S. sales; and Vice President of U.S. marketing where he
led all pre-launch preparation for Renvela(R).
About Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, headquartered in New York, is focused on
bringing innovative therapies to market for patients with renal
disease. The Company launched its first FDA-approved product, Auryxia,
in the United States in December 2014. In January 2014, ferric citrate
was approved for the treatment of patients with all stages of CKD in
Japan, where it is being marketed as Riona(R) by Keryx's Japanese
partner, Japan Tobacco Inc. and Torii Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. For more
information about Keryx, please visit www.keryx.com.
Cautionary Statement
Some of the statements included in this press release, particularly
those regarding the commercialization and subsequent clinical
development of Auryxia, may be forward-looking statements that involve
a number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the
protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Among the
factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are
the following: whether Auryxia will be successfully launched and
marketed in the U.S.; whether Riona(R) will be successfully marketed by
our Japanese partner, Japan Tobacco, Inc. and Torii Pharmaceutical Co.,
Ltd; the risk that the EMA may not concur with our interpretation of
our registration studies in ESRD and non-dialysis dependent chronic
kidney disease, supportive data, conduct of the studies, or any other
part of our MAA submission and could ultimately deny approval of the
MAA; the risk that we may not be successful in the development of
ferric citrate for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in
non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients; and other risk factors
identified from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements set forth in
this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We
do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. This
press release and prior releases are available at http://www.keryx.com.
The information found on our website is not incorporated by reference
into this press release and is included for reference purposes only.
CONTACT: Amy Sullivan, Vice President - Corporate Development
and Public Affairs
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Tel: 617.466.3447 or 508-479-3480
E-mail: [email protected]