Cell Therapeutics, Inc. 1996 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended



 EXHIBIT 10.1 
  
 Cell Therapeutics, Inc. 
 1996 Employee Stock Purchase Plan 
 as amended June 20, 2003 
  

 1.
    Purpose. The Cell Therapeutics, Inc. 1996 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “Plan”) is intended to encourage ownership of stock by employees of Cell Therapeutics, Inc., a Washington corporation (the
“Company”), and certain affiliates, and to provide additional incentive for the employees to promote the success of the business of the Company and any such affiliates. It is intended that the Plan shall be an “employee stock purchase
plan” within the meaning of Section 423 of the Code. 
  
 2.
    Definitions. As used in this Plan, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below: 
  
 (a)     “Base Salary” means the regular gross base salary paid to an Optionee by one or more
Participating Employers during such individual’s period of participation in the Plan, plus any pre-tax contributions made by the Optionee to any Code Section 401(k) salary deferral plan or any Code Section 125 cafeteria benefit program now
or hereafter established by the Company or any Related Corporation. The following items of compensation shall not be included in Base Salary: (i) all overtime payments, bonuses, commissions (other than those functioning as base salary equivalents),
profit-sharing distributions and other incentive-type payments and (ii) any and all contributions (other than Code Section 401(k) or Code Section 125 contributions) made on the Optionee’s behalf by the Corporation or any Related
Corporation under any employee benefit or welfare plan now or hereafter established. 
  
 (b)     “Beneficiary” means the person designated as beneficiary on the Optionee’s
Enrollment Form, if no such beneficiary is named or no such Enrollment Form is in effect at the Optionee’s death, his or her beneficiary as determined under the provisions of the Company’s program of life insurance for the employee.

  
 (c)
    “Board” means the Board of Directors for the Company. 
  
 (d)     “Change in Control” means any of the following: 
  
 (i)     the direct or indirect sale or
exchange by the shareholders of the Company of all or substantially all of the Stock where the shareholders of the Company before such sale or exchange do not retain, directly or indirectly, at least a majority of the beneficial interest in the
voting stock of the Company; 
  
 (ii)
    a merger in which the shareholders of the Company before such merger do not retain, directly or indirectly, at least a majority of the beneficial interest in the voting stock of the Company; 







 (iii)     the sale, exchange, or transfer of all or substantially all
of the Company’s assets (other than a sale, exchange or transfer to one or more corporations or other entities where the shareholders of the Company before such sale, exchange, or transfer retain, directly or indirectly, at least a majority of
the beneficial interest in the voting stock of the corporation(s) or other entities to which the assets were transferred). 
  
 (e)     “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any statute successor
thereto, and any regulations issued from time to time thereunder. 
  
 (f)     “Committee” means a committee of the Board consisting of not less than two directors of the Company who are not employees of the Company or any Related Corporation,
each appointed by the Board from time to time to serve at its pleasure for the purpose of carrying out the responsibilities of the Committee under the Plan. Each member of the Committee will be “disinterested” within the meaning of
Rule 16b-3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. For any period during which no such committee is in existence, all authority and responsibility assigned to the Committee under this Plan shall be exercised, if at all, by the
Board. 
  
 (g)
    “Eligible Employee” means a person who is employed by any Participating Employer on a basis under which he or she is regularly expected to render more than twenty (20) hours of service per week for
more than five (5) months per calendar year for earnings considered wages under Code Section 3401(a). 
  
 (h)     “Enrollment Form” means the Enrollment/Change Form whereby an Optionee authorizes a
Participating Employer to withhold payroll deductions from his or her Base Salary and is otherwise in such form as the Committee may specify. 
  
 (i)     “Fair Market Value” means, as of any given date, the last reported sales price of the
Stock as reported in the Wall Street Journal for such date or, if either no such sale is reported or the Stock is not publicly traded on or as of such date, the fair market value of the Stock as determined by the Committee in good faith based
on the available facts and circumstances at the time. 
  
 (j)     “Offering Commencement Date” means any date on which Options are granted under the Plan as determined by the Committee pursuant to Section 8. 
  
 (k)     “Offering
Period” means a period of approximately six (6) months’ duration, beginning on an Offering Commencement Date and ending, subject to Section 9.6, on the last business day of the sixth calendar month ending after such date, during
which Options are granted and outstanding under the Plan pursuant to a determination by the Committee under Section 4. 
  
 (l)     “Offering Termination Date” means the last business day of an Offering Period, on
which Options must, if ever, be exercised. 
  
 (m)
    “Option” means an option to purchase shares of Stock granted under the Plan. 
  
 (n)     “Optionee” means an Eligible Employee to whom an Option is granted. 
  
  

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 (o)     “Option Shares” means shares of Stock
purchasable under an Option. 
  
 (p)
    “Participating Employer” means the Company or any Related Corporation which is designated by the Committee as a corporation whose Eligible Employees are to receive Options as of a particular Offering
Commencement Date. 
  
 (q)
    “Related Corporation” means any corporation which is or during the term of the Plan becomes a parent corporation of the Company, as defined in Section 424(e) of the Code, or a subsidiary corporation of
the Company, as defined in Section 424(f) of the Code. 
  
 (r)     “Stock” means the common stock, without par value, of the Company. 
  
 (s)     “Stock Purchase Agreement” means the Stock Purchase Agreement under which an Optionee
agrees to such terms and other such provisions governing his or her participation in the Plan (not inconsistent with the Plan) as the Committee may deem advisable. 
  
 3.     Term of Plan. The Plan shall become effective upon (a) the adoption of the Plan by
the Board, subject to the approval of the Plan by the shareholders of the Company within 12 months of such adoption and (b) the effectiveness of a registration statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, covering the shares
of Stock subject to the Plan. No Option shall be granted under the Plan on or after the tenth anniversary of such approval but Options theretofore granted may extend beyond that date. 
  
 4.     Administration. The Plan shall be administered by the Committee, which shall
determine from time to time whether to grant Options under the Plan as of any date otherwise qualifying as an Offering Commencement Date. The Committee shall further determine which (if any) Related Corporation shall be Participating Employers as of
each Offering Commencement Date. The Committee shall have authority in its discretion to interpret the Plan, to prescribe, amend and rescind rules and regulations relating to determining the terms of Options granted under the Plan, and to make all
other determinations necessary or advisable for the administration of the Plan. Any determination of the Committee shall be final and binding upon all persons having or claiming any interest under the Plan or under any Option granted pursuant to the
Plan. 
  
 5.     Amendment and
Termination. The Board may terminate or amend the Plan at anytime and from time to time. No termination of or amendment to the Plan may materially adversely affect the rights of an Optionee with respect to any Option held by the Optionee as
of the date of such termination or amendment without the Optionee’s consent. 
  
 6.     Shares of Stock Subject to the Plan. No more than an aggregate of 635,714 shares of Stock may be issued or delivered pursuant to the exercise of Options granted under the Plan.
Shares to be delivered upon the exercise of Options may be either shares of Stock which are authorized but unissued or shares of Stock held by the Company in its treasury. If an Option expires or terminates for any reason without having been
exercised in full, the unpurchased shares subject to the Option shall become available for other Options granted under the Plan. The Company shall, at all times during which Options are outstanding, reserve and keep available shares of Stock
sufficient to satisfy such Options, and shall pay all fees and expenses incurred by the Company in connection 
  
  

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 therewith. In the event of any capital change in the outstanding Stock as contemplated in Section 9.6, the number and
kind of shares of Stock reserved and kept available by the Company shall be appropriately adjusted. 
  
 7.     Eligibility. Each individual who is an Eligible Employee on any Offering Commencement Date of any Offering Period
under the Plan may enter such Offering Period on such date, provided he or she remains an Eligible Employee and provided, further, he or she meets all of the following requirements: 
  
 (a)     Such Eligible Employee will not, after grant of the Option, own stock possessing
5% or more of the total combined voting power or value of all classes of stock of the Company or of any Related Corporation. For purposes of this subparagraph (a), the rules of Section 424(d) of the Code shall apply in determining the stock
ownership of the Employee, and stock which the Employee may purchase under outstanding options shall be treated as stock owned by the Employee. 
  
 (b)     Upon grant of the Option, the employee’s rights to purchase stock under all employee stock purchase plans
(as defined in Section 423(b) of the Code) of the Company and its Related Corporations will not accrue at a rate which exceeds $25,000 of fair market value of the stock (determined as of the grant date) for each calendar year in which such option is
outstanding at any time. The accrual of rights to purchase stock shall be determined in accordance with Section 423(b)(8) of the Code. 
  
 8.     Offering Commencement Date. Options shall be granted on the first business day of any calendar month which is
designated by the Committee as the beginning of an Offering Period. 
  
 9.     Terms and Conditions of Options. 
  

	 	9.1	 	General. An Optionee shall be granted a separate Option on each Offering Commencement Date for each Offering Period in which he or she participates. All Options
granted on a particular Offering Commencement Date shall comply with the terms and conditions set forth in Sections 9.2 through 9.10. 

  

	 	9.2	 	Purchase Price. The purchase price of Option Shares shall be 85% of the lower of (a) the Fair Market Value of the shares as of the Offering Commencement Date and (b)
the Fair Market Value of the shares as of the Offering Termination Date. 

  

	 	9.3	 	Restrictions on Transfer. Options may not be assigned, transferred, pledged, or otherwise disposed of, except by will or under the laws of descent and distribution. An
Option may not be exercised by anyone other than the Optionee during the lifetime of the Optionee. The Optionee shall agree in the Stock Purchase Agreement to notify the Company of any transfer of the shares within two (2) years of the Offering
Commencement Date of those shares. The Company shall have the right to place a legend on all stock certificates 

  
  

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	 	    	 	instructing the transfer agent to notify the Company of any transfer of the shares. 

  

	 	9.4	 	Expiration. Each Option shall expire at the close of business on the Offering Termination Date or on such earlier date as may result from the operation of Section 9.5
or by action of the Committee taken pursuant to Section 9.6. 

  

	 	9.5	 	Termination of Employment of Optionees. If an Optionee ceases for any reason to be an Eligible Employee, whether due to death, retirement, voluntary severance,
involuntary severance, transfer, or the disaffirmation of a Related Corporation with the Company, his or her Option shall immediately expire, and the Optionee’s accumulated payroll deductions shall be returned to the Optionee or his or her
Beneficiary, as the case may be, by the Company. For purposes of this Section 9.5, an Optionee shall be deemed to be employed throughout any leave of absence for military service, illness, or other bona fide purpose which does not exceed the
longer of ninety (90) days or the period during which the Optionee’s reemployment rights are guaranteed by statute or contract. If the Optionee does not return to active employment prior to the termination of such period, his or her employment
shall be deemed to have ended on the ninety-first (91st) day of such leave of absence. 

  

	 	9.6	 	Capital Changes Affecting the Stock. In the event that, between the Offering Commencement Date and Offering Termination Date of an Option, a stock dividend is paid or
becomes payable in respect of the Stock or there occurs a split-up or contraction in the number of shares of Stock, appropriate adjustments shall be made to (i) the maximum number and class of securities issuable under the Plan, (ii) the maximum
number and class of securities purchasable per Optionee on any one Offering Termination Date and (iii) the number and class of securities and the price per share in effect under each outstanding Option in order to prevent the dilution or enlargement
of benefits thereunder. In the event of a Change in Control, the Committee, in its sole discretion, shall either (a) provide that Options granted under the Plan shall be fully exercisable to the extent of each Optionee’s accumulated
withholdings for the Offering Period as of a date prior to the Change in Control or (b) arrange with the surviving, continuing, successor or purchasing corporation, as the case may be, that such corporation assume the Company’s rights and
obligations under the Plan. In the event that, after the Offering Commencement Date, there occurs a dissolution or liquidation of the Company, except pursuant to a transaction to which Section 424(a) of the Code applies, each Option shall terminate,
but the Optionee shall have the right to exercise his or her Option prior to such dissolution or liquidation. 

  

	 	9.7	 	Payroll Deductions. An Optionee may purchase shares under his or her Option during any particular Offering Period by completing and returning to the Stock Plan
Administrator at least one (1) business day prior to the beginning of such Offering Period the Stock Purchase Agreement and the 

  
  

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	 	    	 	Enrollment Form indicating the percentage, in any multiple of one percent (1%) up to a maximum of ten percent (10%), of his or her Base Salary, which is to be withheld each payroll
period. The Optionee shall not be permitted to change the percentage of Base Salary withheld during an Option Period. However, the Optionee may withdraw any or all of his or her accumulated payroll deductions by submitting to the Stock Plan
Administrator a new Enrollment Form no later than one (1) business day prior to the Offering Termination Date whereupon his or her payroll deduction for the remainder of the Offering Period shall cease and he or she shall not be permitted to
re-enroll in such Offering Period. Any Stock Purchase Agreement and Enrollment Form in effect for an Offering Period shall remain in effect as to any payroll deduction amounts (in which case submission of a new Enrollment Form and Stock Purchase
Agreement shall be required for participation in a future Offering Period) or modified by submission of a new Enrollment Form, or until the Optionee’s termination of employment for any reason. 

  

	 	9.8	 	Exercise of Options/Excess Payroll Deductions. 

  

	 	(a)	 	On the Offering Termination Date, the Optionee may purchase that number of whole shares of Stock obtained by dividing the amount collected from the Optionee through payroll
deductions during the Offering Period ending with that Offering Termination Date by the purchase price in effect for the Optionee for that Offering Termination Date. However, the maximum number of shares of Stock purchasable by any one Optionee on
any Offering Termination Date shall not exceed eight hundred (800) shares, subject to periodic adjustments in the event of certain changes in the Company’s recapitalization. Any payroll deductions not applied to the purchase of Stock by reason
of the limitation on the maximum number of shares purchasable by each Optionee during the Offering Termination Date shall be promptly refunded. 

  

	 	(b)	 	If the total number of shares which all Optionees elect to purchase, together with any shares already purchased under the Plan, exceeds the total number of shares which may be
purchased under the Plan pursuant to Section 6, the number of shares which each Optionee is permitted to purchase shall be decreased pro rata based on the Optionee’s accumulated payroll deductions in relation to all accumulated payroll
deductions currently being withheld under the Plan. The payroll deductions of each Participant, to the extent in excess of the aggregate purchase price payable for the Common Stock pro-rated to such individual shall be promptly refunded.


  

	 	(c)	 	If the number of shares purchasable includes a fraction, such number shall be adjusted to the next smaller whole number and the purchase 

  
  

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	 	    	 	price shall be adjusted accordingly. Any payroll deductions not applied to the purchase of Stock on any Offering Termination Date because they are not sufficient to purchase a whole
share of Stock shall be held for the purchase of Stock on the next Offering Termination Date. Accumulated payroll deductions not withdrawn prior to the Offering Termination Date shall be automatically applied by the Company toward the purchase of
whole shares of Stock. 

  

	 	9.9	 	Delivery of Stock. Except as provided below, within a reasonable time after the Offering Termination Date, the Company shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the
Optionee a certificate or certificates for the number of shares purchased by the Optionee. A stock certificate representing the number of shares purchased will be issued in the Optionee’s name only, or if his or her Enrollment Form so
specifies, in the name of the employee and another person of legal age as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. If any law or applicable regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission or other body having jurisdiction in the premises
shall require that the Company or the Optionee take any action in connection with the shares being purchased under the Option, delivery of the certificate or certificates for such shares shall be postponed until the necessary action shall have been
completed, which action shall be taken by the Company at its own expense, without unreasonable delay. The Optionee shall have no rights as a shareholder in respect of shares for which he or she has not received a certificate. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, the Company may elect to hold for the benefit of the Optionee any shares otherwise to be delivered to the Optionee pursuant to this Section 9.9, or to deliver the same to such agent or agents of the Company for the benefit of the Optionee
as the Company may select, for the period during which the transfer of such shares is limited by this Plan and by Section 423 of the Code (and thereafter, until the Optionee requests delivery of such shares of stock in writing). In that event, the
Optionee shall have all the rights of a shareholder in the shares so held by the Company or its agent, except as limited by the restriction on transferability, from and after the issuance of the same and the Company or its agent shall adopt
reasonable procedures to enable the Optionee to exercise such rights. In the event of the Optionee’s death while any shares are so held, such shares shall be delivered to the Optionee’s Beneficiary promptly following the Committee’s
receipt of evidence satisfactory to the Committee of the Optionee’s death. 

  

	 	9.10	 	Return of Accumulated Payroll Deduction. In the event that the Optionee of his or her Beneficiary is entitled to the return of accumulated payroll deductions, whether
by reason of voluntary withdrawal, termination of employment, retirement, death, or in the event that accumulated payroll deductions exceed the price of the shares purchased (except if for the reason that accumulated payroll deductions were
insufficient to cover the purchase price of one whole share of Stock), such amount shall be returned by the Company to the Optionee or the Beneficiary, as the case may be, as soon as 

  
  

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	 	    	 	practicable following the Offering Termination Date of the Offering Period in which the same were deducted. Accumulated payroll deductions held by the Company shall not bear
interest nor shall the Company be obliged to segregate the same from any of its other assets. 

  
 10.     No Enlargement of Employment Rights. Neither the establishment or continuation of the Plan, nor the grant of any
Option hereunder shall be deemed to give any employee the right to be retained in the employ of the Company or a Related Corporation, or any successor to either, or to interfere with the right of the Company or such Corporation or successor to
discharge the employee at any time. 
  
 11.
    Tax Withholding. If, at any time, the Company or any Related Corporation is required, under applicable laws and regulations, to withhold, or to make any deduction of any taxes or take any other action in
connection with any exercise of an Option or transfer of shares of Stock, the Company or such Related Corporation shall have the right to deduct from all amounts paid in cash any taxes required by law to be withheld therefrom, and in the case of
shares of Stock, the Optionee or his or her estate or Beneficiary shall be required to pay the Company or such Related Corporation the amount of taxes required to be withheld, or, in lieu thereof, the Company or such Related Corporation shall have
the right to retain, or sell without notice, a sufficient number of shares of Stock to cover the amount required to be withheld, or to make other arrangements with respect to withholding as it shall deem appropriate. 
  
 12.     Governing Law. The Plan and all
Options and actions taken thereunder shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Washington, without regard to the conflict of laws principles thereof. 
  
  

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