Akebia to Present at the 19th BIO CEO & Investor Conference

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– 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 19^th Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference
on Monday, February 13, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference
is being held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel 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.
Archived presentations will be available for 90 days.

The company also announced that on January 31, 2017, the company granted
two newly-hired employees options to purchase an aggregate of 22,500
shares of the company’s common stock with a per share exercise price of
$10.03, 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 biology. Akebia’s lead product
candidate, vadadustat, is an investigational oral therapy in development
for the treatment of anemia related to chronic kidney disease in both
non-dialysis and dialysis patients. Akebia’s global Phase 3 program for
vadadustat, which includes the PRO₂TECT studies for
non-dialysis patients with anemia secondary to chronic kidney disease
and the INNO₂VATE studies for dialysis-dependent patients, is
currently ongoing. For more information, please visit our website at www.akebia.com.

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