The Executive Peer Group, which the Compensation Committee reviews on an annual basis, consists of
companies that generally:
•
are similar to Isis in terms of certain factors, including one or more of the following: size (i.e., revenue,
market capitalization), industry, and stage of development;
•
have named executive officer positions that are comparable to ours in terms of breadth, complexity and
scope of responsibilities; and
•
compete with us for executive talent.
The Executive Peer Group does not include companies headquartered outside the United States (because
compensation and benefit practices are generally different outside the United States, the comparable
compensation data for the named executive officers is not available and cost of living is different) or companies
in industries whose compensation programs are not comparable to our programs, such as non-life science
companies.
In June of 2014, the Compensation Committee reviewed the Executive Peer Group using the criteria listed
above and publically available data as of April 2014. The Compensation Committee noted Isis’ market
capitalization was approximately $4.9 billion and had increased approximately 30% since the Compensation
Committee last set the Executive Peer Group. As part of this process, the Compensation Committee looked at
companies in Isis’ industry with market capitalizations of between $1 billion and $8 billion, including looking at
companies that identified Isis as a peer, so called ‘‘reverse peers’’. Based on this evaluation, the Compensation
Committee addedAkorn, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Pacira Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacyclics to the Executive Peer
Group, as these companies fell within the market capitalization range, were in Isis’ sector, and some were reverse
peers. Additionally, the Compensation Committee removedArray BioPharma and Infinity Pharmaceuticals
because they were below the market capitalization range, and removed ViroPharma because it was acquired by
Shire. As of December 31, 2014, Isis’ market capitalization had increased significantly to approximately
$7.3 billion.
100
