We believe that Ironwood has the potential to deliver outstanding long-term returns to stockholders who are sober to the risks inherent in the pharmaceutical product lifecycle and to the potential dramatic highs and lows along the way, and who focus on superior long-term, per share cash flows.
Since the pharmaceutical product lifecycle is lengthy and unpredictable, we believe it is critical to have a long-term strategic horizon. We work hard to embed our long-term focus into our policies and practices, which may give us a competitive advantage in attracting like-minded stockholders and the highest caliber employees. Our current and future employees may perceive both financial and qualitative advantages in having their inventions or hard work result in marketed drugs that they and their fellow stockholders continue to own. Some of our key policies and practices that are aligned with this imperative include:
Our dual class equity voting structure (which provides for super-voting rights of our pre-IPO stockholders only in the event of a change of control vote) is designed to concentrate change of control decisions in the hands of long-term focused owners who have a history of experience with us.
Compensation is weighted to equity over salary for all of our employees, and many employees have a significant portion of their incentive compensation in milestone-based equity grants that reward achievement of major value-creating events a number of years out from the time of grant.
We have adopted a change of control severance plan for all of our employees that is intended to encourage them to bring forward their best ideas by providing them with the comfort that if a change of control occurs and their employment is terminated, they will still have an opportunity to share in the economic value that they have helped create for stockholders.
All of the members of our board of directors are substantial investors in the company. Furthermore, each director is required to hold all shares of stock acquired as payment for his or her service as a director throughout his or her term on the board.
Our partnerships with Allergan, Astellas and AstraZeneca all include standstill agreements, which serve to protect us from an unwelcome acquisition attempt by one of our partners. In addition, we have change of control provisions in our partnership agreements in order to protect the economic value of linaclotide should the acquirer of one of our partners be unable or unwilling to devote the time and resources required to maximize linaclotide's benefit to patients in their respective territory.