Sarissa Urges Alkermes Shareholders to Vote the Universal Blue Card to Upgrade Alkermes for the Benefit of Shareholders

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

June 5, 2023

Dear Fellow Alkermes Shareholders:

We are long-term Alkermes shareholders owning over $400 million in stock who believe that the company is significantly undervalued and not run optimally. For this reason, over the last several years, we have attempted to engage in meaningful discussions with Alkermes regarding the business and operations of the company, including its discordant business franchises, cost structure, capital allocation, and corporate governance.

We are trying hard to avoid this proxy contest and have offered reasonable settlement compromises including delaying our appointment to the board and making it contingent upon stock price targets not being met. The board shunned this offer and indicated that they would be willing to meet with us two times per year 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).

We are a large, long-term shareholder with a stellar track record of success generating value for shareholders by working collaboratively in the boardroom. We have proposed excellent candidates and cannot understand why the company is prepared to spend such a tremendous amount of time and shareholder money to keep us off the board. We will clearly add a shareholder perspective that currently does not exist in the boardroom. We hope to continue our dialogue with the independent board members in the hopes of reaching an amicable settlement so that we can begin to work together to create value for all shareholders. Unfortunately, we fear Richard Pops, the CEO and Chairman of Alkermes, has far too much control on the board to allow a shareholder-favorable settlement to occur.

Richard Pops has presided over tremendous shareholder value destruction since becoming CEO of Alkermes over thirty years ago. For too long, Alkermes has been run for the benefit of management and not for shareholders. In fact, for over thirty years, the company has almost consistently operated at a loss. Even in the last five years, despite annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, Alkermes has consistently operated at a net loss and Alkermes’ stock price has declined nearly 40% and underperformed the iShares Biotechnology ETF (“IBB”) by approximately 57% (calculated by subtracting the percentage change of Alkermes’ share price from the percentage change of IBB price from 06/01/2018 to 06/02/2023. Source: Bloomberg).