ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) today reported the grant of an inducement award to its new Chief Executive Officer, Paris Panayiotopoulos. The award was approved by the Compensation Committee and ratified by the full Board of Directors on December 16, 2015, as an inducement material to Mr. Panayiotopoulos’ entering into employment with the Company in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The award was approved subject to Mr. Panayiotopoulos’ commencement of employment with the Company on January 4, 2016, and in consultation with and upon the advice and recommendation of the Compensation Committee’s independent compensation consultant.

The inducement award consists of a non-qualified stock option to purchase 1,500,000 shares of common stock and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) for 200,000 shares of common stock. The stock option has an exercise price of $5.34 (the closing price on the date of grant, January 13, 2016) and a ten-year term, and will vest as to 25% of the award on the first anniversary of grant and monthly thereafter for thirty-six months, subject to Mr. Panayiotopoulos’ continued employment and the terms of his employment agreement. The RSUs will vest in three approximately equal installments on the six, twelve and eighteen-month anniversaries of grant.

In addition to the inducement award, pursuant to his employment agreement Mr. Panayiotopoulos will purchase $500,000 worth of shares of ARIAD common stock within 12 months from his start date at a price per share equal to the closing price on each purchase date.

About ARIAD

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Lausanne, Switzerland, is an integrated global oncology company focused on transforming the lives of cancer patients with breakthrough medicines. ARIAD is working on new medicines to advance the treatment of various forms of chronic and acute leukemia, lung cancer and other difficult-to-treat cancers. ARIAD utilizes computational and structural approaches to design small-molecule drugs that overcome resistance to existing cancer medicines. For additional information, visit http://www.ariad.com or follow ARIAD on Twitter (@ARIADPharm).