Akorn Reports Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKRX), today announced that Akorn granted an inducement equity award in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) pursuant to an employment arrangement with Akorn’s newly appointed President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas S. Boothe on January 8, 2019.

In accordance with the terms of the offer letter disclosed by Akorn in a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 20, 2018, Akorn granted Mr. Boothe 405,938 nonqualified stock options with an exercise price of $3.94 per share (which is equal to the closing price of Akorn’s common stock on January 8, 2019) and 507,614 restricted stock units, in each case vesting in equal installments on the first four anniversaries of the grant date, and a grant of 253,807 performance stock units that will vest at between 0% and 300% of target based upon the achievement of a specified price of Akorn common stock (from $8 to $20) at the end of the four-year performance period.  In the event of certain qualifying terminations in connection with a change in control of Akorn, all unvested nonqualified stock options, restricted stock units and performance stock units will vest, with any applicable performance criteria determined based upon actual performance as of the change in control.  These nonqualified stock options, restricted stock units and performance stock units have been approved by the Compensation Committee of Akorn’s Board of Directors as employment inducement grants within the meaning of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).  Although the inducement equity awards are not being made under Akorn’s 2017 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plan, the terms of such awards are consistent with the terms of the plan and Akorn's previous filed forms of award agreement, as applicable, except as described above.

About Akorn

Akorn, Inc. is a specialty generic pharmaceutical company engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of multisource and branded pharmaceuticals. Akorn has manufacturing facilities located in Decatur, Illinois; Somerset, New Jersey; Amityville, New York; Hettlingen, Switzerland and Paonta Sahib, India that manufacture ophthalmic, injectable and specialty sterile and non-sterile pharmaceuticals. Additional information is available on Akorn’s website at www.akorn.com.

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