Company: ZVRA
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form Type: PREC14A
Source: 0001193125-25-068746
Chunk: 55

Company: ZEVRA THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-31
Form: PREC14A
Chunk 55
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 | Neil F. McFarlane, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director; |

| • |     | Adrian Quartel, M.D., FFPM, Chief Medical Officer; and |

| • |     | R. LaDuane Clifton, MBA, CPA, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. |

Stockholder Advisory Vote on Executive Compensation At our 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, our stockholders voted in a non-binding,advisory vote to approve the compensation of our NEOs. The Compensation Committee and the full Board carefully evaluated the results and the feedback received, which they also discussed with the Compensation Committee’s compensation consultant. Subsequently, the Compensation Committee and the Board took steps to further strengthen alignment between Company performance and pay for our executive team, including Mr. McFarlane, our Chief Executive Officer. In particular, in February 2025, we awarded Mr. McFarlane performance-based restricted stock units that are eligible to vest based on the achievement of revenue goals (subject to Mr. McFarlane’s continued employment), which is designed to drive stockholder value and better align executive pay with performance. By introducing a performance-based equity award as an element of Mr. McFarlane’s compensation, our Board and Compensation Committee sought to ensure a stronger linkage between Company performance and pay for our Chief Executive Officer. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Compensation Highlights : Base Salaries:We made modest adjustments to base salaries in 2024 based on our review of our position to market against our peer group, and considering the roles and responsibilities of our NEOs. Adjustments made directly align our NEO salaries with our compensation philosophy. 53

Annual Bonus:Our annual bonus program continues to align our NEOs with our overall corporate strategy. Based on the Compensation Committee’s assessment of our overall performance, our corporate objectives were achieved at 129.5% of target (See “Cash-Based Incentive Compensation” for details). Annual Equity Awards:In 2024, our NEOs received long-term incentive awards in the form of stock options and restricted stock units. DETAILS OF OUR COMPENSATION PROGRAM Compensation Philosophy Our executive compensation program has been designed to motivate, reward, attract and retain high caliber management deemed essential to ensure our success. The program seeks to align executive compensation with our short- and long-term objectives, business strategy and financial performance. We intend that the total compensation of our NEOs reflects a “pay for performance” compensation philosophy. As detailed in the next section, we generally target total compensation relative to the 50th percentile