BACKGROUND OF THE SOLICITATION
On February 23, 2022, Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP (“Olshan”) sent a letter to the Company requesting a copy of the Company’s questionnaire for director nominations. The letter did not identify which shareholder(s) Olshan was making this request on behalf of.
On March 7, 2022, Velan and Repertoire filed a joint Schedule 13D, disclosing their entrance into a Group Agreement on February 15, 2022, under which they agreed to coordinate their activities with respect to the Company, as well as a Joint Filing Agreement on March 7, 2022. The Schedule 13D reported that each of Velan and Repertoire owned 1,371,400 shares of the Company’s Common Stock, collectively constituting 5.8% of the Company’s outstanding stock and economic exposure to approximately 8.2% of the Company’s outstanding common stock. Shortly after this filing, Velan and Repertoire sent an e-mail to employees of the Company, including G. Kelly Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Schwartzman, Vice President, Corporate Finance and Ethan Holdaway, Head of Investor Relations, indicating their intent to deliver a formal nomination notice requesting an extension of the director nomination deadline.
On March 10, 2022, Owen Hughes and Kim M. Clarke held a call with Velan and Repertoire on which Velan and Repertoire expressed that they had no concerns with the composition of the Board, but that their issue was with the current allocation of the Company’s capital. On this call Velan and Repertoire requested further insight into the Company’s operations and again indicated their intent to nominate directors to the Board.
Also on March 10, 2022, on a call later that day, the Company offered to extend the director nomination deadline and provide further insight if Velan and Repertoire agreed to enter into a confidentiality agreement, which Velan and Repertoire initially indicated was agreeable to them. On a separate call later the same day, Olshan, Ms. Clarke and the Company’s counsel, Ropes & Gray LLP (“Ropes & Gray”), discussed the potential deadline extension and confidentiality agreement. In a subsequent email the same day, Olshan indicated its clients were rejecting this proposal to enter a confidentiality agreement to receive the extension on the nomination deadline and indicated Velan and Repertoire would be filing their nomination the next day.
On March 11, 2022, Velan and Repertoire delivered notice of their intention to nominate four director candidates to the Board at the Annual Meeting, including Dr. Eric J. Ende, R. John Fletcher, Cynthia L. Flowers, and Ann MacDougall.
On March 15, 2022, Velan and Repertoire filed an amendment to their Schedule 13D disclosing their intention to nominate the four above named individuals as nominees for election to the Board at the Annual Meeting.
On March 25, 2022, Ropes & Gray held a call with Olshan to discuss the Company’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee potentially interviewing the Velan and Repertoire nominees. The following day, Olshan indicated in an email to Ropes & Gray that Velan and Repertoire were only willing to consent to this after a settlement framework was in place.
On April 18, 2022, Velan and Repertoire filed with the SEC a preliminary proxy statement in connection with the Annual Meeting. Also on April 18, 2022, Velan and Repertoire amended their Schedule 13D that had been previously filed with the SEC to disclose the filing of its preliminary proxy statement in connection with the Annual Meeting and to disclose an increase in its ownership to 6.6% of the Company’s outstanding common stock and economic exposure to approximately 9.1% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.
On April 19, 2022, Olshan delivered a request on behalf of Velan to the Company requesting the inspection of certain stockholder list materials and related information of the Company. In connection with the sharing of the stockholder list materials and related information, the Company and Velan entered into a confidentiality agreement on April 27, 2022. The Company responded to this request with materials on May 3, 2022.
11