Sarissa Urges Shareholders to Vote for Sarissa Nominees to Provide Much Needed Oversight and Accountability to Alkermes

Sarissa Capital today released the following letter to shareholders of Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS):

June 13, 2023

Dear Fellow Alkermes Shareholders:

We are one of Alkermes’ largest, long-term shareholders, owning nearly $450 million of stock. We have a stellar track record of success unlocking shareholder value by working collaboratively in the boardroom. For the past few years, we have been attempting to gain representation on the Alkermes board. Despite Alkermes’ ongoing process to refresh the board, a board with no shareholder representatives and incumbent directors with superfluous skill sets, the board has steadfastly refused to add our nominees.

We have proposed excellent candidates and cannot understand why the Alkermes directors are prepared to spend such a tremendous amount of time and shareholder money to keep us out of the boardroom. We will clearly add a shareholder perspective that currently does not exist on the board.

We believed our recent discussions with certain independent board members were positive and had hoped we could avoid a proxy contest and reach a settlement that would be beneficial for all shareholders. We offered reasonable settlement compromises including delaying our appointment to the board and making it contingent upon stock price targets not being met. Regrettably, however, the board shunned our compromises and indicated that they only would be willing to meet with us two times per year (with Chairman and CEO Pops present) if we drop our request for board representation (as you know, most companies meet with major shareholders at least four times per year as a matter of course).

Nonetheless, we will continue our attempts to engage constructively with the independent directors in the hopes of avoiding a proxy contest and reaching an amicable settlement that will allow us to work together to unlock value for all shareholders. Unfortunately, after our multi-year experience engaging with Alkermes, we believe Chairman and CEO Pops has far too much control and not nearly enough oversight on the board to allow a shareholder-favorable settlement to occur. In fact, we learned that instead of focusing on running the company, Mr. Pops had recently undertaken a roadshow with investors (during the company’s quiet period and prior to the filing of any proxy materials with the SEC) that we understand involved Mr. Pops lobbying shareholders against Sarissa representation on the board.