OPHTHOTECH CORPORATION Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement Granted Under 2007 Stock Incentive Plan

EX-10.3 7 d560505dex103.htm EX-10.3 EX-10.3

Exhibit 10.3

OPHTHOTECH CORPORATION

Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement

Granted Under 2007 Stock Incentive Plan

 

1. Grant of Option.

This agreement evidences the grant by Ophthotech Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), on             , 200[    ] (the “Grant Date”) to [                    ], an [employee] [consultant] of the Company (the “Participant”), of an option to purchase, in whole or in part, on the terms provided herein and in the Company’s 2007 Stock Incentive Plan (the “Plan”), a total of [                ] shares (the “Shares”) of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, of the Company (“Common Stock”) at $[        ] per Share. Unless earlier terminated, this option shall expire at 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, on [                    ] (the “Final Exercise Date”).

It is intended that the option evidenced by this agreement shall not be an incentive stock option as defined in Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and any regulations promulgated thereunder (the “Code”). Except as otherwise indicated by the context, the term “Participant”, as used in this option, shall be deemed to include any person who acquires the right to exercise this option validly under its terms.

 

2. Vesting Schedule.

This option will become exercisable (“vest”) as to 25% of the original number of Shares on the first anniversary of the Grant Date and as to an additional 2.0833 % of the original number of Shares at the end of each successive one month period following the first anniversary of the Grant Date until the fourth anniversary of the Grant Date.

The right of exercise shall be cumulative so that to the extent the option is not exercised in any period to the maximum extent permissible it shall continue to be exercisable, in whole or in part, with respect to all Shares for which it is vested until the earlier of the Final Exercise Date or the termination of this option under Section 3 hereof or the Plan.

 

3. Exercise of Option.

(a) Form of Exercise. Each election to exercise this option shall be in writing in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A, signed by the Participant, and received by the Company at its principal office, accompanied by this agreement, and payment in full in the manner provided in the Plan. The Participant may purchase less than the number of shares covered hereby, provided that no partial exercise of this option may be for any fractional share or for fewer than ten whole shares.

(b) Continuous Relationship with the Company Required. Except as otherwise provided in this Section 3, this option may not be exercised unless the Participant, at the time he or she exercises this option, is, and has been at all times since the Grant Date, an employee or


officer of, or consultant or advisor to, the Company or any other entity the employees, officers, directors, consultants, or advisors of which are eligible to receive option grants under the Plan (an “Eligible Participant”).

(c) Termination of Relationship with the Company. If the Participant ceases to be an Eligible Participant for any reason, then, except as provided in paragraphs (d) and (e) below, the right to exercise this option shall terminate three months after such cessation (but in no event after the Final Exercise Date), provided that this option shall be exercisable only to the extent that the Participant was entitled to exercise this option on the date of such cessation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Participant, prior to the Final Exercise Date, violates the non-competition or confidentiality provisions of any employment contract, confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement or other agreement between the Participant and the Company, the right to exercise this option shall terminate immediately upon written notice to the Participant from the Company describing such violation.

(d) Exercise Period Upon Death or Disability. If the Participant dies or becomes disabled (within the meaning of Section 22(e)(3) of the Code) prior to the Final Exercise Date while he or she is an Eligible Participant and the Company has not terminated such relationship for “cause” as specified in paragraph (e) below, this option shall be exercisable, within the period of one year following the date of death or disability of the Participant, by the Participant (or in the case of death by an authorized transferee), provided that this option shall be exercisable only to the extent that this option was exercisable by the Participant on the date of his or her death or disability, and further provided that this option shall not be exercisable after the Final Exercise Date.

(e) Termination for Cause. If, prior to the Final Exercise Date, the Participant’s employment or other relationship with the Company is terminated by the Company for Cause (as defined below), the right to exercise this option shall terminate immediately upon the effective date of such termination of employment or other relationship. If, prior to the Final Exercise Date, the Participant is given notice by the Company of the termination of his or her employment or other relationship by the Company for Cause, and the effective date of such employment or other termination is subsequent to the date of the delivery of such notice, the right to exercise this option shall be suspended from the time of the delivery of such notice until the earlier of (i) such time as it is determined or otherwise agreed that the Participant’s employment or other relationship shall not be terminated for Cause as provided in such notice or (ii) the effective date of such termination of employment or other relationship (in which case the right to exercise this option shall, pursuant to the preceding sentence, terminate immediately upon the effective date of such termination of employment or other relationship). If the Participant is party to an employment, consulting or severance agreement with the Company that contains a definition of “cause” for termination of employment or other relationship, “Cause” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in such agreement. Otherwise, “Cause” shall mean willful misconduct by the Participant or willful failure by the Participant to perform his or her responsibilities to the Company (including, without limitation, breach by the Participant of any provision of any employment, consulting, advisory, nondisclosure, non-competition or other similar agreement between the Participant and the Company), as determined by the Company, which determination shall be conclusive. The Participant shall be considered to have been discharged for “Cause” if the Company determines, within 30 days after the Participant’s resignation, that discharge for cause was warranted.

 

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4. Company Right of First Refusal.

(a) Notice of Proposed Transfer. If the Participant proposes to sell, assign, transfer, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of, by operation of law or otherwise (collectively, “transfer”) any Shares acquired upon exercise of this option, then the Participant shall first give written notice of the proposed transfer (the “Transfer Notice”) to the Company at least 45 days prior to the proposed transfer. The Transfer Notice shall name the proposed transferee and state the number of such Shares the Participant proposes to transfer (the “Offered Shares”), the price per share and all other material terms and conditions of the transfer.

(b) Company Right to Purchase. For 15 days following its receipt of such Transfer Notice (the “Company Notice Period”), the Company shall have the option to purchase all or any portion of the Offered Shares at the price and upon the terms set forth in the Transfer Notice. In the event the Company elects to purchase any of the Offered Shares, it shall give written notice of its election to the Participant during the Company Notice Period (such notice, the “Company Notice”). The settlement of the sale of such Offered Shares to the Company shall be made at the principal office of the Company in cash within 45 days after the Company receives the Transfer Notice. If the consideration proposed in the Transfer Notice to be paid for the Offered Shares is in property, services or other non-cash consideration, the Company may, at its option, pay the cash value equivalent thereof, as determined in good faith by the Board of Directors and set forth in the Company Notice.

(c) Shares Not Purchased By Company. If the Company does not elect to acquire all or any portion of the Offered Shares, the Participant may, within the 30-day period following the expiration of the Company Notice Period, transfer the Offered Shares not purchased by the Company to the proposed transferee, provided that the transfer shall not be on terms and conditions more favorable to the transferee than those contained in the Transfer Notice. Notwithstanding any of the above, all Offered Shares transferred pursuant to this Section 4 shall be subject to the provisions hereof in the same manner and to the same extent as before the transfer, and such transferee shall, as a condition to such transfer, deliver to the Company a written instrument confirming that such transferee shall be bound by all of the terms and conditions of this Section 4.

(d) Consequences of Non-Delivery. After the time at which the Offered Shares are required to be delivered to the Company for transfer to the Company pursuant to subsection (b) above, the Company shall not pay any dividend to the Participant on account of such Offered Shares or permit the Participant to exercise any of the privileges or rights of a stockholder with respect to such Offered Shares, but shall, insofar as permitted by law, treat the Company as the owner of such Offered Shares.

 

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(e) Exempt Transactions. The following transactions shall be exempt from the provisions of this Section 4:

(1) A transfer of stock by Participant made for bona fide estate planning purposes, either during his or her lifetime or on death by will or intestacy to his or her spouse, child (natural or adopted), or any other direct lineal descendant of Participant (or his or her spouse) (all of the foregoing collectively referred to as “family members”), or any other person approved by the Board of Directors of the Company, or any custodian or trustee of any trust, partnership or limited liability company for the benefit of, or the ownership interests of which are owned wholly by, the Participant or any such family members, provided that no consideration is actually paid for such transfer;

(2) Participant’s bona fide pledge or mortgage of his or her shares with a commercial lending institution;

(3) A transfer pursuant to an agreement among the Participant and other stockholder(s) of the Company providing for “take-me-along” or “co-sale” rights, or any stock restriction agreement or other agreement between the stockholder and the Company providing for a right of first refusal in favor of the Company;

(4) A transfer to a person who is already a stockholder of the Company; or

(5) A transfer to the guardian or conservator of the Participant.

provided, however, that in any such case, the transferee, assignee, pledgee, mortgagee or other recipient shall receive and hold such stock subject to the provisions of this Section 4 and shall deliver to the Company a written instrument confirming the same, and that there shall be no further transfer of such stock except in accordance with this Section 4.

(f) Assignment of Company Right. The Company may assign its rights to purchase Offered Shares in any particular transaction under this Section 4 to one or more persons or entities.

(g) Termination. The provisions of this Section 4 shall terminate upon the earlier of the following events:

(1) immediately before the consummation of a Qualified Public Offering, as such term is defined in the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation;

(2) when the Company first becomes subject to the periodic reporting requirements of Section 12(g) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; or

(3) upon a Deemed Liquidation Event, as such term is defined in the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation.

(h) No Obligation to Recognize Invalid Transfer. The Company shall not be required (1) to transfer on its books any of the Shares which shall have been sold or transferred in violation of any of the provisions set forth in this Section 4, or (2) to treat as owner of such Shares or to pay dividends to any transferee to whom any such Shares shall have been so sold or transferred.

 

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(i) Legends. The certificate representing Shares shall bear a legend substantially in the following form (in addition to, or in combination with, any legend required by applicable federal and state securities laws, the Bylaws (as defined below) and agreements relating to the transfer of the Company securities):

“The shares represented by this certificate are subject to a right of first refusal in favor of the Company, as provided in a certain stock option agreement with the Company.”

(j) Notices. Any notice under this Section 4 shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given when mailed by first class mail, or delivered by hand (i) if to the Company, to its principal executive office, attention: President; and (ii) if to the Participant, to the address of the Participant listed on the signature page below (as it may be updated from time to time by written notice from the Participant to the Company in accordance with this Section 4(j)).

(k) Conflict with Bylaws. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this agreement, if the provisions of this Section 4 are in conflict with the provisions of Article V of the Company’s Amended and Restated Bylaws (the “Bylaws”) governing the Company’s right of first refusal with respect to the Company’s Common Stock, the provisions of the Bylaws shall be controlling.

 

5. Agreement in Connection with Initial Public Offering.

The Participant agrees, in connection with the initial underwritten public offering of the Common Stock pursuant to a registration statement under the Securities Act, (i) not to (a) offer, pledge, announce the intention to sell, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of Common Stock or any other securities of the Company or (b) enter into any swap or other agreement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of shares of Common Stock or other securities of the Company, whether any transaction described in clause (a) or (b) is to be settled by delivery of securities, in cash or otherwise, during the period beginning on the date of the filing of such registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and ending 180 days after the date of the final prospectus relating to the offering (plus up to an additional 34 days to the extent requested by the managing underwriters for such offering in order to address Rule 2711(f) of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. or any similar successor provision), and (ii) to execute any agreement reflecting clause (i) above as may be requested by the Company or the managing underwriters at the time of such offering. The Company may impose stop-transfer instructions with respect to the shares of Common Stock or other securities subject to the foregoing restriction until the end of the “lock-up” period.

 

6. Withholding.

No Shares will be issued pursuant to the exercise of this option unless and until the Participant pays to the Company, or makes provision satisfactory to the Company for payment of, any federal, state or local withholding taxes required by law to be withheld in respect of this option.

 

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7. Nontransferability of Option.

This option may not be sold, assigned, transferred, pledged or otherwise encumbered by the Participant, either voluntarily or by operation of law, except by will or the laws of descent and distribution, and, during the lifetime of the Participant, this option shall be exercisable only by the Participant.

 

8. Provisions of the Plan.

This option is subject to the provisions of the Plan (including the provisions relating to amendments to the Plan), a copy of which is furnished to the Participant with this option.

 

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this option to be executed under its corporate seal by its duly authorized officer. This option shall take effect as a sealed instrument.

 

OPHTHOTECH CORPORATION
By:  

 

  Name:  

 

  Title:  

 

 

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PARTICIPANT’S ACCEPTANCE

The undersigned hereby accepts the foregoing option and agrees to the terms and conditions thereof. The undersigned hereby acknowledges receipt of a copy of the Company’s 2007 Stock Incentive Plan.

 

PARTICIPANT:

 

Address:  

 

 

 

PARTICIPANT’S SPOUSE (if applicable)*:

 

Address:  

 

 

 

 

* Required for Participants residing in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin.

 

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EXHIBIT A

NOTICE OF STOCK OPTION EXERCISE

 

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NOTICE OF STOCK OPTION EXERCISE

Date:

Ophthotech Corporation

One Penn Plaza

35th Floor

NY, NY 10119

Attention: Treasurer

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am the holder of a Nonstatutory Stock Option granted to me under the Ophthotech Corporation (the “Company”) 2007 Stock Incentive Plan on                      for the purchase of                  shares of Common Stock of the Company at a purchase price of $         per share.

I hereby exercise my option to purchase                  shares of Common Stock (the “Shares”), for which I have enclosed [cash] [a personal check] in the amount of                     . Please register my stock certificate as follows:

 

Name(s):  

 

  
 

 

  
Address:  

 

  
Tax I.D. #:  

 

  

I represent, warrant and covenant as follows:

1. I am purchasing the Shares for my own account for investment only, and not with a view to, or for sale in connection with, any distribution of the Shares in violation of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”), or any rule or regulation under the Securities Act.

2. I have had such opportunity as I have deemed adequate to obtain from representatives of the Company such information as is necessary to permit me to evaluate the merits and risks of my investment in the Company.

3. I have sufficient experience in business, financial and investment matters to be able to evaluate the risks involved in the purchase of the Shares and to make an informed investment decision with respect to such purchase.

 

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4. I can afford a complete loss of the value of the Shares and am able to bear the economic risk of holding such Shares for an indefinite period.

5. I understand that (i) the Shares have not been registered under the Securities Act and are “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act, (ii) the Shares cannot be sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of unless they are subsequently registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from registration is then available; (iii) in any event, the exemption from registration under Rule 144 will not be available for at least one year and even then will not be available unless a public market then exists for the Common Stock, adequate information concerning the Company is then available to the public, and other terms and conditions of Rule 144 are complied with; and (iv) there is now no registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to any stock of the Company and the Company has no obligation or current intention to register the Shares under the Securities Act.

 

Very truly yours,

 

(Signature)

 

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