Explanatory Note.
This Amendment No. 2 (this “Amendment No. 2”) amends and supplements the Schedule 13D originally filed by the Reporting Persons with the Commission on August 20, 2021, as amended and supplemented on March 30, 2022 (as so amended through March 30, 2022, the “Original Schedule 13D” and together with this Amendment No. 2, the “Schedule 13D”). Only those items that are hereby reported are amended; all other items reported in the Original Schedule 13D remain unchanged. Information given in response to each item shall be deemed incorporated by reference in all other items, as applicable. Capitalized terms not defined in this Amendment No. 2 have the meanings ascribed to them in the Original Schedule 13D.
Item 4. Purpose of Transaction.
Item 4 of the Schedule 13D is hereby amended and supplemented as set forth below:
“On April 11, 2022, the Reporting Persons, the Participating Stockholders (as defined below) and the Nominees (collectively, the “Participants”) filed a preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A (the “Preliminary Proxy Statement”), in connection with the potential solicitation of proxies in favor of the election of the Nominees as Class I directors at the 2022 Annual Meeting.
Following the filing of the Preliminary Proxy Statement, the Reporting Persons, along with M28, Adimab, Mithril and Population Health and certain of their respective affiliates (collectively, the “Participating Stockholders”) engaged in discussions with the Issuer’s Board regarding a potential settlement. The Participating Stockholders proposed terms including, among other things, the departure of directors René Russo, Tom Heyman, Anand Shah, Howard Mayer and Michael Wyzga from the Board, the addition of the Nominees to the Board as Class III directors, the re-nomination of Mr. Royan to the Board and a reduction in the size of the Board. This proposal was rejected by a special committee of the Board that was formed on or about April 8, 2022 (the “Committee”).
On April 17, 2022, the Committee offered to nominate the Nominees for election to the Board at the 2022 Annual Meeting in exchange for a standstill, a liability waiver and a non-disparagement undertaking. On April 19, 2022, the Participating Stockholders made a counterproposal to the Committee’s April 17, 2022 proposal, which among other things modified the Committee’s proposal to provide for greater stockholder protections, including by proposing to declassify the Board at the Issuer’s 2023 annual meeting of stockholders (the “2023 Annual Meeting”) and encourage Board consensus through supermajority decision-making. The Committee informed Mr. McGuire, a director of the Issuer who is also a Participant and Reporting Person, on April 20, 2022 that it had considered and rejected such counterproposal, including the idea of providing greater stockholder accountability through a declassification of the Board. As of the date hereof, the Participating Stockholders have been unable to reach an agreement with the Board in respect of the foregoing matters.
On April 25, 2022, Mithril II mailed to the Issuer a further supplement to the Notice, notifying the Issuer that Mithril II intended to propose an advisory, non-binding stockholder resolution that the Board take all necessary actions to cause the Board to be declassified in advance of the 2023 Annual Meeting, such that the term of each Board member expires at the 2023 Annual Meeting, and that any director elected to the Board at or after the 2023 Annual Meeting be elected on an annual basis (the “Declassification Proposal”).
Also on April 25, 2022, (i) the Participating Stockholders reached an agreement, memorialized in an email, pursuant to which they agreed to vote all of their respective shares of the Issuer’s Common Stock in favor of the Declassification Proposal at the 2022 Annual Meeting, and (ii) the Participants filed a revised preliminary proxy statement, including both the proposal that the Nominees be elected as Class I directors and the Declassification Proposal. The Participants intend to solicit proxies in favor of both the election of the Nominees and the approval of the Declassification Proposal at the 2022 Annual Meeting.”