Akebia to Present at the Cantor Fitzgerald Annual Healthcare Conference

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKBA), a biopharmaceutical company focused on delivering innovative therapies to patients with kidney disease through the biology of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), today announced that John P. Butler, President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the 2nd Annual Cantor Fitzgerald Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference is being held at Le Parker Meridien in New York City.

A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available on the company's website at http://ir.akebia.com/events.cfm. An archived presentation will be available for 90 days.

In addition, on June 30, 2015, the company granted two newly-hired employees options to purchase an aggregate of 125,000 shares of the company’s common stock with a per share exercise price of $7.48, the closing price on the grant date. These options will vest as to 25% of the total number of shares subject to the option on the first anniversary of the grant date. The remaining 75% of shares will vest ratably on the first day of each calendar quarter over the next three years. The stock options were inducements material to these new employees entering into employment with the company, and issued in reliance on NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

About Akebia Therapeutics
Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, focused on delivering innovative therapies to patients with kidney disease through hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) biology. Akebia has completed Phase 2 development of its lead product candidate, vadadustat (formerly AKB-6548), an oral therapy for the treatment of anemia related to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in both non-dialysis and dialysis patients. Enrollment in the PRO2TECT Phase 3 program in non-dialysis dependent patients commenced in late 2015 and the INNO2VATE Phase 3 program in dialysis dependent patients is expected to commence in 2016. Akebia's second product candidate, AKB-6899, is expected to commence clinical development in 2016. For more information, please visit our website at www.akebia.com.

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