DURHAM — Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage company developing new treatments for glaucoma and other eye diseases, has joined a growing list of companies using an increasingly popular recruiting offer to attract talent in a tight labor market.
The company announced Tuesday that it has hired Luis Vargas as its new medical director, including the offering him an “inducement grant.” A lesser-used distribution vehicle, it allows companies to grant awards without dipping into equity plan pools approved by shareholders.
As part of the deal, Vargas will receive awards totaling 14,400 stock options that will vest over four years, with 25 percent vesting on the first anniversary of the hire date and the remainder vesting in part on each of the subsequent 36 monthly anniversaries of the hire date.
Aerie shares traded at $22.21 on Tuesday. At that price the package would be worth more than $300,000.
“This award was made outside of Aerie’s stockholder-approved equity incentive plan and was approved by the Company’s independent directors as an inducement material to Dr. Vargas entering into employment with the Company in reliance on NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which requires this public announcement,” the company said in its release.
Vargas will report directly to Welyn Bui, PharmD, Aerie’s vice president of Medical Affairs. Dr. Vargas will oversee the organizational planning and operational needs of medical affairs at Aerie. Prior to this, he held related positions at Revision Optics and Abbott Laboratories.
However, the rise of inducement grants isn’t a surprise to some.
“The highly competitive hiring environment in the technology and life sciences sectors is driving up the use of new-hire awards in general, and when a company’s shareholder-approved equity pool is strained by such grants, there is a strong case to be made for inducement grants,” Edward Speidel recently noted in an industry paper.
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