SECTION 17. TRANSFERABILITY.
Unless the agreement evidencing an Award (or an amendment thereto authorized by the Committee) expressly provides otherwise, no Award granted under this Plan, nor any interest in such Award, may be sold, assigned, conveyed, gifted, pledged, hypothecated or otherwise transferred in any manner (prior to the vesting and lapse of any and all restrictions applicable to Shares issued under such Award), other than by will or the laws of descent and distribution; provided, however, that an ISO may be transferred or assigned only to the extent consistent with Section 422 of the Code. Any purported assignment, transfer or encumbrance in violation of this Section 17 shall be void and unenforceable against the Company.
SECTION 18. PERFORMANCE BASED AWARDS.
The number of Shares or other benefits granted, issued, retainable and/or vested under an Award may be made subject to the attainment of performance goals. The Committee may utilize any performance criteria selected by it in its sole discretion to establish performance goals; provided, however, that in the case of any Performance Based Award, the following conditions shall apply:
(i) The amount potentially available under a Performance Based Award shall be subject to the attainment of pre-established, objective performance goals relating to a specified period of service based on one or more of the following performance criteria: (a) cash flow (including operating cash flow), (b) earnings per share, (c) earnings before any combination of interest, taxes, depreciation or amortization, (d) return on equity, (e) total stockholder return, (f) share price performance, (g) return on capital, (h) return on assets or net assets, (i) revenue, (j) income or net income, (k) operating income or net operating income, (l) operating profit or net operating profit, (m) operating margin or profit margin, (n) return on operating revenue, (o) return on invested capital, (p) market segment shares, (q) costs, (r) expenses, (s) achievement of target levels of discovery and/or development of products or services, including but not limited to research or regulatory achievements, (t) third party coverage and/or reimbursement objectives, or (u) test volume metrics (“Qualifying Performance Criteria”), any of which may be measured either individually, alternatively or in any combination, applied to either the Company as a whole or to a business unit or Subsidiary, either individually, alternatively or in any combination, and measured either annually or cumulatively over a period of years, on an absolute basis or relative to a pre-established target, to previous years’ results or to a designated comparison group or index, in each case as specified by the Committee in the Award;
(ii) Unless specified otherwise by the Committee at the time the performance goals are established or otherwise within the time prescribed by Section 162(m) of the Code, the Committee shall appropriately adjust the method of evaluating performance under a Qualifying Performance Criteria for a performance period as follows: (i) to exclude asset write-downs, (ii) to exclude litigation or claim judgments or settlements, (iii) to exclude the effect of changes in tax law, accounting principles or other such laws or provisions affecting reported results, (iv) to exclude accruals for reorganization and restructuring programs, (v) to exclude any extraordinary nonrecurring items as determined under generally accepted accounting principles and/or described in managements’ discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations appearing in the Company’s annual report to stockholders for the applicable year, (vi) to exclude the dilutive effects of acquisitions or joint ventures, (vii) to assume that any business divested by the Company achieved performance objectives at targeted levels