| Item 5.02 | Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. |
(c)
Effective as of March 8, 2022, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Biocept, Inc. (the “Company”) appointed Philippe Marchand, Ph.D. to serve as the Company’s Chief Operations Officer.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Operations Officer, Dr. Marchand, age 58, served as a consultant to the Company since February 2022, providing operational services. Dr. Marchand served as Chief Operating Officer of Biosplice Therapeutics, Inc. (“Biosplice”), a privately held biopharmaceutical company, since January 2017 until March 2022, and as Senior Vice President, Operations of Biosplice from March 2015 to January 2017. Dr. Marchand received an M.S. and a Ph.D. from the Université de Haute Alsace, France.
In connection with his appointment, the Company entered into an employment offer letter with Dr. Marchand that governs the current terms of his employment with the Company. The employment offer letter provides that Dr. Marchand will receive an annual base salary of $400,000 and will be eligible to receive an annual performance bonus with a target bonus percentage equal to 40% of his base salary. The employment offer letter also provides that the Company will grant Dr. Marchand an option to purchase 150,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. In addition, Dr. Marchand is entitled to severance benefits upon a termination without cause or resignation for good reason (“Involuntary Termination”), including continued payment of base salary for six months and payment of his group health insurance premiums for up to six months. In addition, if Dr. Marchand’s employment is subject to an Involuntary Termination within one month prior to or 12 months following a change in control, then he will be entitled to receive continued payment of base salary for 12 months, payment of his group health insurance premiums for up to 12 months, a prorated annual performance bonus and full accelerated vesting of any unvested equity awards. Dr. Marchand may also be entitled to receive tax gross up payments in the event any payments made in connection with a change in control are subject to the excise taxes imposed by Sections 280G and 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code.
There are no family relationships between Dr. Marchand and any of the Company’s current or former directors or executive officers. Dr. Marchand is not a party to any transaction that would require disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The foregoing summary of the employment offer letter with Dr. Marchand is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the agreement, a copy of which is filed with this Current Report on Form 8-K as Exhibit 10.1.
| Item 9.01 | Financial Statements and Exhibits. |
(d) Exhibits
