Document:

EXHIBIT 10.14(a)

 

AMENDMENT
NO. 1 TO CHANGE OF CONTROL AGREEMENT

 

This Amendment No. 1 to
Change of Control Agreement (this “Amendment”)
dated as of April 25, 2003 is entered into between Reliant Pharmaceuticals, LLC
and Vincent Angotti (the “Executive”).

 

WITNESSETH:

 

WHEREAS, the Company and
the Executive entered into a Change of Control Agreement dated as of March 19,
2002 (the “Original Agreement”);
and

 

WHEREAS, the Company and
the Executive wish to amend the Original Agreement in the manner set forth herein
to clarify such agreement.

 

NOW THEREFORE, in
exchange for the agreements set forth herein, and good and valuable
consideration the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the
Company and the  Executive hereby agree
as follows:

 

1.                                       Amendment
of Section 5(a). Section 5(a) of the Original Agreement is hereby amended
by deleting the last sentence of the first paragraph of such Section in its
entirety, and substituting the following in lieu thereof:

 

“In
the event that the Series A Holders and the Series B Holders receive Value in
the Change of Control (1) of less than the Liquidation Preference or (2) in
excess of the Series A/B Liquidation Preference Cap, in each case after giving
effect to any bonus payments made or to be made by Reliant pursuant to the
terms of this Agreement and other similar change of control agreements or
severance agreements entered into between the Company and members of the
Company’s senior management, including, without limitation, the persons listed
on Annex A attached hereto, then, in
either case, Executive shall not be entitled to any Bonus.”

 

5.                                       No
Other Amendments. Except as expressly amended hereby the Original Agreement
shall continue in full force and effect.

 

6.                                       Governing
Law. This Amendment shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with,
the laws of Delaware without giving effect to the choice of law provisions
thereof.

 

7.                                       Counterparts.
For the convenience of the parties hereto, this Amendment may be executed in
any number of counterparts, each such counterpart being deemed to be an
original instrument, and all such counterparts shall together constitute the
same agreement.

 

8.                                       Successors
and Assigns. This Amendment shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit
of the parties hereto and each of their successors and assigns, including,
without limitation, any successors or surviving entities thereto by operation
of merger.

 

9.                                       Entire
Agreement. The Original Agreement, as amended hereby, constitutes the
entire agreement of all parties hereto with respect to the subject matter
hereof and supersedes all prior agreements and undertakings, both written and
oral, among the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof. All
references in the Original Agreement to “this Agreement”, “hereof”, “hereby”
and words of similar import shall refer to the Original Agreement as amended
hereby.

 

 

10.                                 Defined
Terms. Capitalized terms used but not otherwise defined herein shall have
the meanings ascribed to them in the Original Agreement.

 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF,
and intending to be legally bound, the Company and the Executive have executed
this Amendment as of the date first written above.

 

 

	
   

  	
  EXECUTIVE

  
	
   

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
  RELIANT PHARMACEUTICALS, LLC

  
	
   

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
  By:

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
   

  	
  Name:

  
	
   

  	
   

  	
  Title:

  

 

 

[SIGNATURE PAGE TO AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO
CHANGE OF CONTROL AGREEMENT]EXHIBIT 10.15

 

Reliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

110 Allen Road

Liberty Corner, NJ 
07938

908-580-1200

Fax: 908-542-9405

www.ReliantRx.com

 

July 28, 2006

 

HIGHLY
CONFIDENTIAL

 

Joe
Zakrzewski

Reliant
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

 

Dear Joe:

 

With the very
successful launch of Omacor® and its promise of combination products with
expanded indications, our Company is entering a phase of significant growth. This
is due in large part to your individual efforts along with those of your
colleagues, and we take this opportunity to thank you for your extraordinary
commitment and very hard work.

 

We are very
pleased with the Company’s recent progress and recognize the importance of
sustained individual commitment in a cohesive organization in order to fully
exploit our opportunities going forward.

 

We will soon
have a new CEO to work with all of us to take Reliant to the next level of
growth and we expect that the new CEO will likely be in place by the end of
2006 or the beginning of 2007. We recognize that this process may be somewhat
distracting and we want to provide you with a one-time, special incentive to
assure sustained excellence, focus and cooperation within the organization during
the CEO succession process. I want you to know that the Board of Directors and
the Compensation Committee enthusiastically support the special incentive
program.

 

In general,
the special incentives will provide a retention bonus to special incentive
recipients who remain employed and in good standing with the Company through July
31, 2007 (or who are terminated by the Company without Cause or who leave the
Company with Good Reason). For special incentive recipients who do not
currently have a severance arrangement in place, severance protection will be
provided as well. The specific terms of your personalized special incentive are
set forth on Exhibit A attached to this letter. Formal documentation of
the terms described in Exhibit A will follow shortly.

 

 

As you would
imagine, the number of individuals in this program is very small, so it is a
condition of your actually receiving the special incentive that you not
share your participation or the details of your special incentive with anyone
else in the Company.

 

Please be
assured that I continue to be fully committed to the Company and its employees.
I look forward to working with you to realize Reliant’s full potential.

 

So, congratulations
for all of your hard work and being included in the special incentive program!  Staying together and committed, we will continue
to build Reliant into a company all will be proud to be a part of.

 

 

	
   

  	
  Sincerely,

  
	
   

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
   

  
	
   

  	
  Ernie Mario,
  Ph.D.

  
	
   

  	
  Chairman and
  CEO

  

 

 

Attachment

 

cc:  Mark Hoplamazian,

Chairman,
Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors

 

 

CONFIDENTIAL

 

EXHIBIT A

 

SPECIAL INCENTIVE

 

Joe Zakrzewski (“Participant”)

 

I. Retention
Bonus:

 

Bonus Amount:                                                                                                           $350,000.00.

 

Condition of
Payment:                                                                        Participant
must be employed and in good standing on July 31, 2007. Payment would be made
on August 1, 2007, subject to only to receipt from the participant of a general
release in the form to be attached to the formal documentation of the Retention
Bonus. No other performance or time based conditions on payment.

 

Payment
Acceleration:                                                                       If
the Participant is terminated by the Company prior to July 31, 2007 without Cause
(as defined below) or if the Participant leaves the Company with Good Reason (as
defined below), then the Participant would receive the retention bonus amount
on August 1, 2007, subject to only to receipt from the participant of a general
release in the form to be attached to the formal documentation of the Retention
Bonus.

 

II. Severance Benefit:1

 

Participant will be entitled to a severance benefit of one year’s
salary and medical benefit continuation if the Participant is terminated by the
Company without Cause or if the Participant leaves the Company for Good Reason
during the period from July 31, 2006 through the later of (a) the 12 month
anniversary of the start date of the new CEO and (b) January 31, 2008 (the “Benefit
Period”). The severance benefit described in this Section II is incremental
to (and not instead of) the Retention Bonus described above.

 

1  In
the event that Participant’s pre-existing entitlements are equal to or better
than the cash severance benefit described in this Section II (as determined by
the Compensation Committee in consultation with the Participant), the
pre-existing terms would control.  

 

 

III. Extension of Option Exercise Period:

 

In the event Participant is terminated without Cause (as defined below)
or leaves the Company with Good Reason (as defined below) during the Benefit Period,
the exercise period for Participant’s vested options on the date of termination
would be extended until (a) the later of (i) December 31 of the calendar year
in which the option otherwise would have expired, or (ii) the fifteenth day of
the third month following the date the options otherwise would have expired or
(b) a future fiscal year (i.e., 2008, 2009 or 2010) that needs to be agreed
upon currently in connection with formally documenting the benefits described
above and the option exercise extension (if triggered by early termination as
described above).2

 

IV. Defined Terms:

 

For the purposes of this Exhibit A and the formal documentation
of the terms of Exhibit A,  the
terms “Cause” and “Good Reason” will be defined as set forth below:

 

“Cause” means (a) in the event that Participant’s employment
agreement or employment offer letter includes a definition of “Cause”, then
such definition shall govern or (b) in all other cases, termination by the
Company of your employment with the Company due to (i) Participant’s commission
of an act of fraud or embezzlement against the Company or any affiliate
thereof, (ii) Participant’s breach of one or more of the following duties to
the Company:  (A) the duty of loyalty,
(B) the duty not to engage in self-dealing with respect to the Company’s
assets, properties or business opportunities, except as approved in writing by
the Board, (C) the duty of honesty or (D) any other fiduciary duty which you owe
to the Company, (iii) Participant’s conviction of (or a plea of nolo contendere in lieu thereof) for (A) a felony or (B) a
crime involving fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude, (iv) intentional
misconduct with respect to Participant’s duties to the Company, including, but
not limited to, knowing and intentional violation of written policies of the
Company, including policies regarding confidential information and
non-competition, or specific directions of the Board or superior officers of
the Company, which policies or directives are neither illegal (or do not
involve illegal conduct) nor do they require you to violate reasonable business
ethical standards, or (v) Participant’s failure, after written notice from the
Company, to render services to the Company in accordance with Participant’s
employment duties, which failure is not cured within 10 days of receipt of such
notice.

 

“Good Reason” means (a) in the event that Participant’s
employment agreement or employment offer letter includes a definition of “Good
Reason”, then such definition shall govern or (b) in all other cases, (i) a
material reduction in Participant’s base salary and benefits from the levels
provided as of July 31, 2006, (ii) a material reduction of Participant’s duties
and responsibilities from those in

 

2  Please
note that these time periods are driven by 409A (deferred compensation rules)
considerations.

 

 

effect as of July 31, 2006, or (iii) without Participant’s consent,
Participant is relocated for at least six (6) months to a location more than
seventy-five (75) miles from your current principal place of employment.

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