Tricida, Inc. (Nasdaq: TCDA), today announced the hiring of Susannah Cantrell, Ph.D., as Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice President. Dr. Cantrell will lead Tricida’s commercial planning and operations functions.

“Susannah brings a breadth and depth of strategic and operational experience to Tricida that we believe will enable us to build a fine-tuned commercial organization focused on delivering a first-in-class potential therapy to not only treat metabolic acidosis but potentially slow the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD),” said Gerrit Klaerner, Ph.D., Tricida’s Chief Executive Officer, President and Board Member.

Dr. Cantrell has over 20 years of commercial industry experience across sales, operations, marketing and global commercial strategy with therapeutic experience in cell therapy, oncology, inflammation, anti-infectives, cardiology, neurology and endocrinology. She most recently served as Vice President & Head, Global Commercial Strategy and Marketing Oncology at Gilead Sciences, Inc. where she has been instrumental in leading and building its oncology business franchise from 2011 to present. While at Gilead, she led global marketing for YESCARTA, ZYDELIG and pre-launch activities for andecaliximab and the company’s B-Cell portfolio. Prior to her time at Gilead, Dr. Cantrell held various senior level positions at Genentech/Roche from 2005 to 2011, including marketing, strategic business planning and sales. She participated in life-cycle management and the pre-launch and commercial launch of several products, including RITUXAN, HERCEPTIN, AVASTIN and TARCEVA. Dr. Cantrell also led the pre-launch and commercialization activities for Genentech’s BioOncology pipeline. Prior to Genentech, Dr. Cantrell held sales and marketing positions at GlaxoSmithKline, where she managed the anti-infective portfolio, including the AUGMENTIN, TIMENTIN and BACTROBAN. Dr. Cantrell holds a BA in biology from Westminster College and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“I am excited to join Tricida and to advance the pre-launch planning and strategic commercial efforts for TRC101 that are already underway,” said Dr. Cantrell. “I believe that TRC101 has the potential to transform the treatment of patients with metabolic acidosis and CKD. I look forward to working with the Tricida team on the continued development and potential commercialization of this important product candidate.”

About Tricida

Tricida, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of TRC101, a non-absorbed, orally-administered polymer designed to treat metabolic acidosis in patients with CKD. Metabolic acidosis is a condition commonly caused by CKD that has been shown to accelerate the progression of kidney deterioration. Tricida has successfully completed a pivotal Phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of TRC101 in patients with CKD and metabolic acidosis. The results of this Phase 3 trial, along with results from a successful double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 1/2 trial and an ongoing 40-week extension trial, TRCA-301E, are intended to serve as the basis for the submission of an NDA for TRC101 under the FDA’s Accelerated Approval Program.

For more information about Tricida, please visit www.tricida.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements, including statements regarding building a successful commercial organization, the ability of our product candidate to provide benefit to patients, the advancement of pre-launch planning and strategic commercial efforts, the continued development and potential commercialization of our product candidate, the success of our clinical trials, and our ability to submit an NDA for TRC101 under the FDA's Accelerated Approval Program. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our ability to build a successful commercial organization; if our product candidate is approved, our ability to commercialize the product; the expected benefits and efficacy of our product candidate; the possibility that we may not successfully complete the required clinical trials required to obtain regulatory approval of our product candidate; and risks that the FDA would not approve an NDA under the Accelerated Approval Program. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Tricida’s current views with respect to future events, and Tricida does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.