| A. |
trading in securities of the Company or of any other company, while in possession of material non-public information about such other company obtained in
connection with employment by or service to the Company;
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| B. |
disclosing this information to anyone else (other than to another director, officer or employee of the Company who has a need to know in order to perform his or
her duties on behalf of the Company); or
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| C. |
recommending to anyone else that they trade in any of the Company’s securities (i.e., “tipping”).
|
| I. |
Penalties
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| A. |
a prison sentence of up to 20 years and a fine of up to $5 million;
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| B. |
a civil penalty of up to three times the profits made (or losses avoided) by the trading; and
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| C. |
disgorgement (payment to the government) of the profits made (or losses avoided) including profits (or losses avoided) by a “tippee.”
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| II. |
Definitions
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| A. |
Material Non-Public Information
|
| • |
quarterly earnings or revenue information;
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| • |
results of the Company’s clinical trials and pipeline status;
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| • |
new collaboration or licensing arrangements or other significant business development activities;
|
| • |
significant write-downs in assets or increases in reserves;
|
| • |
modifications to the cost structure of the Company or a significant product candidate;
|
| • |
changes in leverage or liquidity or non-compliance with financing agreements;
|
| • |
proposals, plans and arrangements (even if preliminary in nature) concerning a merger, acquisition or divestiture;
|
| • |
proposals, plans and arrangements (even if preliminary in nature) concerning any financing, refinancing or securities offering;
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| • |
an important development in the Company’s businesses or prospects,
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| • |
changes in key management; or
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| • |
developments regarding significant litigation or governmental or regulatory investigations (including decisions or settlements in those matters).
|
| B. |
Trading
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| III. |
Other Restrictions
|
| • |
engaging in “short sales” and “selling against the box” (a variation of selling short) with respect to securities of the Company;
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| • |
buying or selling puts, calls or other derivative securities on the Company’s securities;
|
| • |
transferring securities including as gifts;
|
| • |
trading in securities of the Company on a short-term basis;
|
| • |
holding Company securities in a margin account and/or pledging securities; and
|
| • |
entering into hedging or similar transactions with respect to Company securities.
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| IV. |
Black-out Periods and Blackout Persons
|
| A. |
Blackout Persons may not
purchase, sell, gift or otherwise transfer Company securities during the period from and including the time the market closes on the twentieth (20th) calendar day of the third month of any calendar quarter until the time the market opens following the release of quarterly financial information (each, a “blackout period”).
|
| B. |
Notwithstanding the above, in a period where the trading window would otherwise be closed due to sub-paragraph A above, and absent any other material non-public
information, the Company may determine that it is not in possession of material non-public information and may determine that the trading window will remain “open” during all or part of the period otherwise “closed.”
|
| C. |
The Chief Financial Officer or his or her designee may, at his/her sole discretion, close the trading window at any time by notification to the Company.
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| D. |
The Chief Financial Officer, or his or her designee, may define other black-out periods than those automatically created by sub-paragraph A above and, if this is
done, so communicate it to the Company and directors.
|
| E. |
The following persons are considered “Blackout Persons” for purposes of this Policy:
|
| • |
Directors;
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| • |
Officers of the Company who are required to file reports under Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”);
|
| • |
All members of the legal and financial departments with access to financial reports or forecasts prior to their public release;
|
| • |
All accounting personnel;
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| • |
All investor relations and corporate communications personnel;
|
| • |
Any other persons designated by either (i) the Board, (ii) the Chief Financial Officer, or (iii) the Corporate Secretary; and
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| • |
Any such person’s immediate family members, other persons who reside with him or her, and entities with which he or she is affiliated.
|
| V. |
Pre-Clearance Procedures for Certain Persons
|
| • |
Directors;
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| • |
Officers of the Company who are required to file reports under Section 16 of the Exchange Act;
|
| • |
Any other person designated by either (i) the Board, (ii) the Chief Financial Officer, or (iii) the Corporate Secretary; and
|
| • |
Any such person’s immediate family members, other persons who reside with him or her and entities with which he or she is affiliated.
|
| VI. |
Pre-Planned Trading for Blackout and Pre-Clearance Persons
|
| • |
have been submitted to and pre-approved by the Chief Financial Officer and/or his or her designee;
|
| • |
include a “Cooling Off Period” for
|
| o |
directors and officers that extends to the later of 90 days after adoption or modification of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan or two (2) business days after filing the
Form 20-F or Form 6-K (or the US domestic filing equivalent thereof, if applicable) with financial results covering the fiscal quarter in which the Rule 10b5-1 trading plan was adopted, up to a maximum of 120 days; and
|
| o |
employees and any other persons, other than the Company, that extends 30 days after adoption or modification of such Rule 10b5-1 Plan;
|
| • |
for directors and officers, include a representation that the director or officer is (1) not aware of any material nonpublic information about the Company or its
securities; and (2) adopting the Rule 10b5-1 Plan in good faith and not as part of a plan or scheme to evade SEC Rule 10b-5;
|
| • |
have been entered into in good faith at a time when the individual was not in possession of material nonpublic information about the Company and a blackout period
was not otherwise in effect, and such individual has acted in good faith with respect to the Rule 10b5-1 Plan;
|
| • |
either (1) specify the amounts, prices, and dates of all transactions under the Rule 10b5-1 Plan; or (2) provide a written formula, algorithm, or computer program
for determining the amount, price, and date of the transactions, and (3) prohibit the individual from exercising any subsequent influence over the transactions; and
|
| • |
comply with all other applicable requirements of Rule 10b5-1.
|
| • |
All “Pre-Clearance Persons,” as defined in Section V of the Company’s Insider Trading and Blackout Policy (the “Policy”), must request written approval from the Chief Financial Officer or his/her designee before trading at any time in any of the Company’s securities or
exercising options or warrants, including during a period not deemed a “Blackout Period,” as defined in Section IV of the Policy.
|
| • |
The Chief Financial Officer or his/her designee shall provide advice based on the specific fact situation and is authorized to approve exceptions to the Blackout
Period, if it is clear that no law or regulation would be violated by the proposed trade given the particular facts.
|
| • |
The Chief Financial Officer or his/her designee shall record the date each request is received and the date and time each request is approved or disapproved.
Unless revoked, a grant of permission will normally remain valid until the close of trading two business days following the day on which it was granted. If the transaction does not occur during the two-day period, pre-clearance of the
transaction must be re-requested.
|
| • |
Pre-clearance is not required for purchases and sales of securities under a pre-existing written plan, contract, instruction or arrangement under Rule 10b5-1
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Approved 10b5-1 Plan”). With respect to any purchase or sale under
such an Approved10b5-1 Plan, the third party effecting transactions on behalf of the Pre-Clearance Person should be instructed to send duplicate confirmations of all such transactions to the Chief Financial Officer.
|
| 1. |
Is a blackout period in effect?
|
| a. |
All “Blackout Persons,” as defined in Section IV(E) of the Policy, are prohibited from trading in the Company’s equity securities during a Blackout Period.
|
| 2. |
Is the trade a prohibited transaction?
|
| a. |
Pre-Clearance Persons, including any such person’s immediate family members, other
persons who reside with him or her and entities with which he or she is affiliated, are prohibited from engaging in the following transactions in the Company’s securities unless advance approval is obtained from the Chief
Financial Officer or his/her designee:
|
| i. |
Short-Term Trading: Pre-Clearance Persons who purchase
Company securities may not sell any Company securities of the same class for at least six months after the purchase;
|
| ii. |
Short Sales: Pre-Clearance Persons may not sell the
Company's securities short;
|
| iii. |
Options Trading: Pre-Clearance Persons may not buy or sell
puts, calls or other derivative securities on the Company’s securities;
|
| iv. |
Trading on Margin or Pledging: Pre-Clearance Persons may
not hold Company securities in a margin account or pledge Company securities as collateral for a loan; and
|
| v. |
Hedging: Pre-Clearance Persons may not enter into hedging
or monetization transactions or similar arrangements with respect to Company securities.
|
| 3. |
Does the trade qualify for an exception to the Policy?
|
| a. |
The only exceptions to the Policy are set forth below. Please note that the following are not exceptions from applicable pre-clearance requirements.
|
| i. |
Stock Option Exercises: The Policy does not apply to the
exercise of an employee stock option, or to the exercise of a tax withholding right pursuant to which an employee elects to have the Company withhold shares subject to an option to satisfy tax withholding requirements. The Policy does
apply, however, to any sale of stock acquired upon such exercise, including as part of a broker- assisted cashless exercise of an option or any other market sale for the purpose of generating the cash needed to pay the exercise price of
an option;
|
| ii. |
Employee Stock Purchase Plan: The Policy does not apply to
purchases of Company stock in any employee stock purchase plan resulting from periodic contribution of money to the plan pursuant to an election made at the time of enrollment in the plan. The Policy also does not apply to purchases of
Company stock resulting from lump-sum contributions to any such plan, provided that an employee elected to participate by lump-sum payment at the beginning of the applicable enrollment period. The Policy does apply to an election to
participate in any plan for any enrollment period, and to sales of Company stock purchased pursuant to the plan;
|
| iii. |
Blind Trust Transactions: The Policy does not apply to any
transaction executed by a trustee of a blind trust established for the benefit of one or more persons subject to the Policy; provided that (a) the trustee is not a person subject to the Policy, (b) on the date such Company securities
are deposited into the blind trust, the beneficiaries who are subject to the Policy are not in possession of Material Nonpublic Information and are in compliance with the Policy in all respects, (c) the written agreements setting forth
the terms of the blind trust are approved by the Chief Financial Officer or his/her designee prior to the deposit of any Company securities into the blind trust and (d) the Pre-Clearance Person does not, at any time, provide Material
Nonpublic Information to the trustee. For purposes of this exemption, a “blind trust” is a trust in which the beneficiaries have no control over any transaction executed by the third- party trustee; provided that the trust documentation
may contain guidelines to be followed by the trustee in connection with the disposition of Company securities; and
|
| iv. |
Approved Transactions: The Policy does not apply to any
transaction specifically approved in writing in advance by the Chief Financial Officer or his/her designee.
|
| v. |
Rule 10b5-1 trading Plan: The Policy does not apply to any
transaction conducted pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan that complies with the requirements outlined above.
|
| vi. |
Gifts: gift transactions for family or estate planning
purposes, where securities are gifted to a person or entity subject to this policy
|