Portola Pharmaceuticals Reports Inducement Grants Under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Nov. 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.^® (NASDAQ: PTLA) announced today that on October 26, 2018, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved, effective as of October 31, 2018, the grant of an inducement stock option to purchase 250,000 shares of common stock and an award in the form of 125,000 restricted stock units to Scott Garland, the Company’s newly appointed president and chief executive officer.  

The stock option shall have an exercise price per share of $19.69, the closing price per share of the Company’s Common Stock on October 31, 2018, and will vest over four years, with 25 percent of the shares vesting on October 8, 2019, the one-year anniversary of the vesting commencement date, and the remaining shares vesting ratably over the subsequent 36 months, subject to Mr. Garland’s continued service with the Company. The stock option has a ten-year term and is subject to the terms and conditions of the Company’s Inducement Plan and the stock option agreement pursuant to which the option was granted.  The shares subject to the restricted stock unit award shall vest in three equal annual installments over three years, with the first installment vesting on October 31, 2019, in each case subject to Mr. Garland’s continued service with the Company.

The awards were granted as inducements material to Mr. Garland entering into employment with Portola in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

About Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.    
Portola Pharmaceuticals is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapeutics that could significantly advance the fields of thrombosis and other hematologic diseases. The Company’s two FDA-approved medicines are Andexxa® [coagulation factor Xa (recombinant), inactivated-zhzo], the first and only antidote for patients treated with rivaroxaban and apixaban when reversal of anticoagulation is needed due to life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding, and Bevyxxa® (betrixaban), the first and only oral, once-daily Factor Xa inhibitor for the prevention of VTE in adult patients hospitalized for an acute medical illness. The company also is advancing cerdulatinib, a Syk/JAK inhibitor for the treatment of hematologic cancers.

Investor Contact:                 
Cara Miller                             
Portola Pharmaceuticals
[email protected] 

Media Contact:
Laurie Masonson
Pure Communications
[email protected]