CymaBay Therapeutics Comments on Engine Capital Director Nominations

CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBAY) (the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for liver and other chronic diseases with high unmet need, today confirmed that Engine Capital Management (“Engine”) has nominated three candidates to stand for election to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) at the 2020 Annual Meeting. Shareholders are not required to take any action at this time. CymaBay issued the following statement:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200313005530/en/

“CymaBay regularly engages with our shareholders and welcomes their input. Our Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee has an established framework for evaluating prospective director candidates, and we will review Engine’s nominees in a manner consistent with that framework.

Following the termination of our Phase 2b study of seladelpar, members of our Board and management team had discussions with many of our top shareholders – including Engine – regarding their ideas for the best path forward for CymaBay. Based on that feedback, as well as our Board’s and management’s years of work on our strategy and expertise in the industry, we concluded that the best option is to pursue an investigation of the unexpected histologic findings identified by the study pathologists in the Phase 2b study of seladelpar in NASH, while in parallel promptly reducing costs and undertaking a review of potential strategic alternatives to maximize value.

As part of our commitment to reducing costs, in January we decreased the size of our Board from nine to five directors. The thorough process leading to this decision balanced the need to reduce costs, given our current circumstances, with the need to preserve strong, independent and effective oversight of CymaBay during this vital period for our Company. During our March 12^th announcement of CymaBay’s fourth quarter and fiscal year 2019 financial results, we provided additional detail on the actions we are taking to maximize value for all shareholders.”

Additional information regarding the CymaBay Board and its recommended slate of director nominees will be presented in the definitive proxy statement and other materials, to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and mailed to all stockholders eligible to vote at the 2020 Annual Meeting. The date of the 2020 Annual Meeting has not been announced.