Strategic, Operational and Governance Enhancements Have Driven Strong Stock Price Performance and TSR Outperformance in Comparison to Peers
Reiterates Board's Belief that Sarissa Nominees Would Offer No Additive Skills to the Board
Recommends Shareholders Vote "FOR" Alkermes' Board Nominees on Company's WHITE Proxy Card
The Company's Board of Directors (the Board) issued the following statement:
"Driven by the Company's share performance, operational considerations, and shareholder feedback, in 2019 the Board and management recognized the need to realign the Company's priorities, refine its strategic and operational focus, and effect certain governance changes. Since that time, the Alkermes Board and management team have taken concrete actions to create and execute the Company's shareholder-supported
"Despite this success,
Key highlights from the Company's presentation include:
Alkermes implemented a Board-led transformation across multiple facets of the Company, including governance and operations.
- The Board oversees implementation of the Company's
- Alkermes' stock price has increased ~49%.
- Alkermes' TSR has outperformed its peers by 61%, the XBI biotech index by 83% and the NBI biotech index by 56%1.
- To further drive shareholder value creation and complement the focus of the Value Enhancement Plan, the Board established three core strategic priorities:
- Commercial: Grow Alkermes' portfolio of proprietary commercial products.
° Revenues from proprietary products up ~75% from 2019 – 2023E2.
- Pipeline: Leverage Alkermes' medicinal chemistry and protein engineering capabilities to advance pipeline candidates with high potential return on investment.
° Obtained
° Advanced nemvaleukin alfa into potential registrational studies in multiple tumor types.
° Advanced ALKS 2680, an orexin 2 receptor agonist candidate for the treatment of narcolepsy, into phase 1 clinical studies.
- Profitability: Drive profitability through cost optimization and operating leverage.
° Established profitability targets for 2024 and 2025.
° Successfully secured a favorable Final Award in key arbitration with Johnson & Johnson affiliate
° Announced planned separation of the oncology business to accelerate neuroscience profitability, simplify capital allocation decision-making and refine the Company's strategic focus.
Over the last four years, the Board has been significantly refreshed to further enhance its mix of skills and experience, and to provide fresh perspectives to oversee management's execution of its strategy.
- 70% of the Board's independent directors have been refreshed.
- Four of the new directors were appointed with the support of shareholders, including one director designated by Sarissa and one director designated by
Elliott Management . - The newly added directors possess diverse backgrounds and skills, including: public company chief financial officer, buyside institutional investor, M&A strategy and execution, public health, research and development (R&D), medical and corporate governance.
- Three of the new directors enhance the Board's diversity in terms of gender or race/ethnicity.
- The Board initiated declassification, which will be complete as of the Company's 2024 annual general meeting of shareholders.
The Board thoroughly and thoughtfully reviewed Sarissa's candidates, which included interviews with each candidate by all members of the
- The three Sarissa nominees' skills are duplicative to those of the Company's current directors, including finance/investing, corporate governance and medical R&D. All of these skills are represented on the current Board following the Company's Board refreshment process over the past four years.
- None of Sarissa's nominees are fully independent from Sarissa; two are employees of Sarissa and the third is a past Sarissa designee.
-
The Board is committed to acting in the best interests of all shareholders and recommends that shareholders vote "FOR" all seven of the Board's director nominees –
There are three easy ways to vote:
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BY TELEPHONE |
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Visit the website shown on your |
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If you have any questions about how to vote your shares, or need assistance in voting, please contact the firm assisting Alkermes with the solicitation of proxies for the Annual Meeting:
Toll-Free at (877) 750-8334 (toll-free for those calling from the U.S. and Canada) or
+1 (412) 232-3651 (for those calling from outside the U.S. and Canada)
To learn more about Alkermes' Board nominees, business strategy, and strong recent performance, please visit www.AlkermesValue.com.
About
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements set forth in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements concerning the Company's strategic priorities and its ability to create and deliver shareholder value and achieve its profitability targets; expectations regarding the anticipated benefits and other impacts of the planned separation of the Company's oncology business; and the therapeutic and commercial potential of the Company's products. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. The forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and they are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including that the Company may not ultimately separate its oncology business during 2023 or at all; the Company may not be able to achieve long-term profitability or its profitability targets in a timely manner or at all; the terms of the final award issued in the Company's arbitration proceedings with Janssen may be challenged; clinical development activities may not be completed on time or at all; the results of the Company's development activities may not be positive, or predictive of final results from such activities, results of future development activities or real-world results; the FDA or regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may not agree with the Company's regulatory approval strategies or components of the Company's marketing applications; the FDA or regulatory authorities outside the U.S. may make adverse decisions regarding the Company's products; the Company and its licensees may not be able to continue to successfully commercialize their products or support revenue growth from such products; the Company's products may prove difficult to manufacture, be precluded from commercialization by the proprietary rights of third parties, or have unintended side effects, adverse reactions or incidents of misuse; and those risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
Important Additional Information and Where to Find It
The Company has filed its definitive proxy statement, accompanying WHITE proxy card and other relevant documents with the
Contacts:
For Investors:
For Media:
Or
FGS Global
alkermes@fgsglobal.com
1 Share prices from 12/9/2020, the last trading day before Alkermes announced its Value Enhancement Plan, through 2/3/2023, the last trading day prior to Sarissa's Schedule 13D/A disclosing its notice of director nominations. Peers include: Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Blueprint Medicines Corporation, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., Exelixis, Inc., Incyte Corporation, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc, Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., PTC Therapeutics, Inc., Sage Therapeutics, Inc., Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., United Therapeutics Corporation.
2 Reflects midpoint of financial expectations provided on
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