BOSTON, June 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:KERX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing innovative medicines to people with renal disease, today announced that Michael Heffernan and Jodie Morrison joined its board of directors, effective immediately. These new appointments bring the size of the company’s board to eight members and reflect achievement of Keryx’s commitment to add further complementary expertise to its Board.

“We are very pleased to further strengthen our board,” said Greg Madison, chief executive officer of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. “Michael and Jodie round out the expertise of our directors by bringing a broad range of operational and leadership experience in several therapeutic areas with companies at every stage of development. I believe we have an impressive and well represented board to guide Keryx through the many stages of Auryxia’s life cycle.”

Michael Heffernan is founder, president, and chief executive officer of Collegium Pharmaceutical, a publicly traded drug development company targeting chronic pain. Jodie Morrison is president and chief executive officer of Tokai Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative medicines for hormonally driven diseases, with an investigational medicine for prostate cancer in Phase 3 development. Michael will serve on Keryx’s compensation committee and its nominating and governance committee. Jodie will serve on the company’s audit committee and research and development committee.

“Keryx has a unique opportunity ahead, as it continues to drive brand awareness and adoption of Auryxia^®in dialysis while working simultaneously on potential label expansion for an additional indication,” said Mr. Heffernan. “I look forward to sharing my experiences and insight to help guide the company through this very important time.”

“Keryx is entering an important stage of the company’s growth,” said Ms. Morrison. “I am thrilled to join the board and serve alongside the other directors to help achieve Keryx’s operational and development goals and advance its vision of building a leading renal company.”

About Michael T. Heffernan
Mr. Heffernan is the founder, president and CEO of Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. He has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and related healthcare industries. He was previously the founder, president and CEO of Onset Dermatologics, a dermatology focused company that was spun out of Collegium to create PreCision Dermatology and was sold to Valeant (2014). Mr. Heffernan held prior positions as co-founder, president and CEO of Clinical Studies Ltd., a pharmaceutical contract research organization that was sold to PhyMatrix Corp and later served as president and CEO of PhyMatrix. Mr. Heffernan began his career at Eli Lilly and Company and served in numerous sales and marketing roles. He has also been an advisor and investor in a number of healthcare companies. His past board memberships include: TyRx (sold to Medtronic), Cornerstone Therapeutics (sold to Chiesi), Ocata Therapeutics (sold to Astellas), and PreCision Dermatology. Mr. Heffernan is currently the chairman of the board for Veloxis Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Heffernan earned his B.S. Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut and is a Registered Pharmacist.

About Jodie Morrison
Ms. Morrison has more than 18 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including extensive clinical development and operational leadership. She has been at Tokai Pharmaceuticals for approximately 10 years, and is currently the president and chief executive officer and a member of its board of directors. Prior to being appointed CEO in 2013, she served as Tokai’s chief operating officer and head of clinical affairs. Notably, throughout her tenure at Tokai she has led the company’s operational management and its lead prostate cancer development program. Prior to joining Tokai, Ms. Morrison was director of clinical operations and medical affairs at Dyax Corporation. While at Dyax she built and led the clinical development teams for two development programs: Kalbitor™ (hereditary angioedema) and DX-88 (cardiothoracic surgery). Before joining Dyax, she held clinical management positions at Curis, Inc. and Diacrin, Inc. Ms. Morrison has a B.A. in neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College, business certification training from the MIT Sloan School of Management Executive Program and clinical research certification from Boston University School of Medicine.

About Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, with headquarters in Boston, is focused on bringing innovative medicines to people with renal disease. In December 2014, the company launched its first FDA-approved medicine, Auryxia^® (ferric citrate) in the United States. In January 2014, ferric citrate was approved for use in Japan, where it is being marketed as Riona^® by Keryx's Japanese partner, Japan Tobacco Inc. and Torii Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. In September 2015, the European Commission granted European market authorization for Fexeric^® (ferric citrate coordination complex). For more information about Keryx, please visit www.keryx.com.