OPHTHOTECH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:OPHT) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers
Item 5.07. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

Ophthotech Corporation (the “Company” or “Ophthotech”) held its 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Wednesday, May 23, 2018 (the “2018 Annual Meeting”). At the 2018 Annual Meeting, the Company held stockholder votes on three matters, the results of which are disclosed in Item 5.07 below.

In response to an unfavorable stockholder vote regarding the Company’s non-binding, advisory proposal on the compensation of its executive officers (commonly referred to as a “say-on-pay” proposal) described in Item 5.07 below, and at the direction of its Board of Directors, the Company entered into a letter agreement on May 24, 2018 (the “May 24 Letter Agreement”) with David R. Guyer, M.D., the Company’s Executive Chairman, to amend the severance arrangements in Dr. Guyer’s existing employment letter agreement, dated as of April 26, 2013, and previously amended as of February 26, 2015, April 24, 2017, and May 12, 2018. Under his existing employment letter agreement, Dr. Guyer was entitled to certain severance benefits described therein in the event that the Company terminated Dr. Guyer’s employment without “cause” (as such term is defined therein) or if Dr. Guyer terminated his employment for any reason. The May 24 Letter Agreement instead provides that Dr. Guyer will be entitled to such severance benefits only if he is terminated by the Company without “cause” or if he terminates his employment for “good reason” (as such term is defined in the existing employment agreement).

The May 24 Letter Agreement addresses the one outstanding item cited by Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”), a proxy advisory firm, as the basis for a recommendation by ISS against the say-on-pay proposal. As background, ISS recommended that Ophthotech stockholders vote “AGAINST” the say-on-pay proposal based on the existence of two items in Dr. Guyer’s employment agreement that it considered to be “problematic” pay practices. One of these items was an excise tax gross-up provision in Dr. Guyer’s employment agreement related to excise taxes imposed by Section 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. As previously disclosed on a Form 8-K filed on May 14, 2018, the Company and Dr. Guyer amended his employment agreement on May 12, 2018 (prior to the 2018 Annual Meeting) to eliminate this excise tax gross-up provision. The other item was a provision, implemented when Dr. Guyer transitioned from Chief Executive Officer to Executive Chairman in 2017, entitling Dr. Guyer to receive severance benefits not only in the event that his employment was terminated by the Company without “cause” but also in the event that he voluntarily resigned his position for any reason. As described above, the May 24 Letter Agreement amended this severance arrangement to eliminate the pay practice considered “problematic” by ISS.

Item 5.07. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.

Ophthotech held its 2018 Annual Meeting on May23, 2018. The following is a summary of the matters voted on at that meeting.

(a) Ophthotech’s stockholders elected Axel Bolte and David E. Redlick as ClassII directors to serve until the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, each such director to hold office until his successor has been duly elected and qualified. The results of the stockholders’ vote with respect to the election of such ClassII directors were as follows:

(b) Ophthotech’s stockholders did not approve a non-binding, advisory proposal on the compensation of Ophthotech’s named executive officers. The results of the stockholders’ vote with respect to such matter were as follows:

(c) Ophthotech’s stockholders ratified the selection of Ernst& Young LLP as Ophthotech’s independent registered public accounting firm for the current fiscal year. The results of the stockholders’ vote with respect to such matter were as follows:

About OPHTHOTECH CORPORATION (NASDAQ:OPHT)

Ophthotech Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company specializes in the development of therapeutics to treat diseases of the back of the eye, with a focus on developing therapeutics for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Its advanced product candidate is Fovista, which is for use in combination with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs. It is also developing its product candidate Zimura for the treatment of patients with geographic atrophy, a form of dry AMD, in combination with VEGF therapy for the treatment of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV). Fovista is being tested in Phase III clinical development. In addition, it has initiated additional clinical trials to evaluate the potential additional benefits of Fovista administered in combination with anti-VEGF drugs in wet AMD patients, known as Fovista Expansion Studies. Zimura has completed a small, multicenter, uncontrolled, open label Phase I/IIa clinical trial.