Latham & Watkins Advises Ardelyx, Inc. in Agreement to Commercialize its First-in-Class Therapy for Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Ardelyx, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARDX), a biopharmaceutical company founded with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize innovative first-in-class medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs, has announced that the company may receive up to US$20 million from HealthCare Royalty Partners (HealthCare Royalty) from the sale of its future royalties and sales milestones from Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd (Kyowa Kirin), its collaboration partner in Japan for the commercialization of tenapanor for hyperphosphatemia, an abnormally high serum phosphate level, in patients with chronic kidney disease. Under the terms of the agreement, Ardelyx will receive from HealthCare Royalty a US$10 million upfront payment, an additional US$5 million following Kyowa Kirin's receipt of regulatory approval to market tenapanor for hyperphosphatemia in Japan, and US$5 million in the event net sales in Japan exceed a certain target level by 2025. In return, HealthCare Royalty will receive the royalty payments and commercial sales milestones that Ardelyx may earn under the license agreement with Kyowa Kirin.

Latham & Watkins LLP represents Ardelyx, Inc. in the transaction with a deal team led by Bay Area finance partner Haim Zaltzman and associate Trevor Church. Advice has also been provided on corporate matters by Bay Area partner Mark Roeder and associate Natalie Robertson; on intellectual property matters by Bay Area partners Judith Hasko and Jekkie Kim; and on tax matters by Los Angeles partner Eric Cho and New York associate Seung (Sam) Yang.