Horizon Pharma plc to Amend Preliminary Solicitation Statement to Include Proposed Nominees for Depomed's Board

Horizon Pharma plc HZNP, a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' lives by identifying, developing, acquiring and commercializing differentiated and accessible medicines that address unmet medical needs, today announced that it is amending its preliminary solicitation statement filed on Schedule 14A with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on August 3, 2015, as amended, to include a proposal to elect individuals whom Horizon Pharma believes should serve as successor directors on the board of directors of Depomed, Inc. ("Depomed"), should Depomed's current board members be removed by shareholders at a special meeting. Timothy P. Walbert, chairman, president and chief executive officer, Horizon Pharma plc, commented, "We firmly believe that Depomed shareholders have a right to consider the highly attractive proposal we have made. However, given the board's behavior and entrenchment, we feel strongly that the board as currently constituted does not provide assurance that the interests of Depomed shareholders are being sufficiently taken into account. Depomed shareholders deserve to have a board that is committed to solely acting in their best interests. "Our nominees are independent and experienced executives, who bring valuable and distinct expertise. We are confident that they would consider our proposal, which includes a 60 percent premium to Depomed's unaffected price and significant upside potential in the new combined company, in an independent manner and consistent with their fiduciary duties under the law," Mr. Walbert concluded. About the Nominees Horizon Pharma plc is proposing the following seven independent nominees for election to Depomed's board of directors: Robert M. Daines Mr. Daines is currently the Pritzker Professor of Law and Business and co-director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford Law School. He teaches corporate law, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and the law and economics of complex transactions. Mr. Daines is a former member of the NASDAQ Stock Market Review Council. He is also the former chair of the Corporate and Securities Law Section of the American Law and Economics Association and the former chair of the Law and Economics Section of the Association of American Law Schools. Mr. Daines has a juris doctorate from Yale Law School, a bachelor's degree in economics and a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Brigham Young University. Mr. Daines' extensive knowledge of corporate law and corporate governance qualifies him to serve on the board. Elizabeth M. Greetham Ms. Greetham is currently a member of the research and advisory group and strategic advisor to the president of The Place2Be, a UK charity which provides mental and emotional support to school children. Ms. Greetham was the chairman and chief executive officer of Drug Abuse Sciences, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company dedicated to developing and marketing therapies for alcohol and drug abusers, from March 1999 to October 2003. Ms. Greetham has also served on the boards of Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., a bioscience company that is now part of publicly-traded Eisai Co., Ltd., Stressgen Biotechnologies Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company that became part of Akela Pharma Inc. and Enzo Biochem, Inc., Pathogenesis Corporation, a chronic infectious diseases drug company that is now part of publicly-traded Novartis International AG, Sangstat Medical Corporation, a global biotechnology company that is now part of publicly-traded Sanofi S.A., Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company and King Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company that is now part of publicly-traded Pfizer Inc. Ms. Greetham earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Ms. Greetham is qualified to serve on the board on the basis of her 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and her financial expertise. Ms. Greetham qualifies as an audit committee financial expert. Jack Kaye Prior to his retirement in 2006, Mr. Kaye was an audit partner at Deloitte LLP, an international accounting, tax and consulting firm, for 26 years. At Deloitte LLP, he was responsible for serving a diverse client base of public and private, global and domestic, companies in a variety of industries. Mr. Kaye has extensive experience consulting with clients on accounting and reporting matters, private and public debt financings, SEC rules and regulations and corporate governance/Sarbanes-Oxley issues. Mr. Kaye is the current chairman of the audit committee of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly-traded biopharmaceuticals company, and Dyadic International, Inc., a publicly-traded biotechnology company, positions he has held since 2006 and 2015, respectively. He is also a member of the nominating and governance and compensation committees of these companies. Mr. Kaye has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Baruch College and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Kaye is qualified to serve on the board on the basis of Mr. Kaye's financial and accounting expertise and years of executive leadership in the biopharmaceutical industry. Mr. Kaye also qualifies as an audit committee financial expert. Steven A. Lisi Mr. Lisi served as senior vice president of business and corporate development of Flamel Technologies S.A., a publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company, from 2012 to 2015. From 2007 to 2012, Mr. Lisi was a partner at Deerfield Management, a global healthcare focused hedge fund. Mr. Lisi is the co-founder of MICO Innovations, LLC, a privately-held novel bare metal stent company, and has been the chairman since 2006. He is also a director and member of the audit committee and finance committee of Trio Health, a privately-held healthcare IT company, since 2015. Mr. Lisi has a bachelor's degree in economics from State University of New York at Albany and a master's degree in international business from Pepperdine University. Mr. Lisi qualifies to serve on the board on the basis of his leadership experience in the healthcare industry and his financial expertise. Mr. Lisi qualifies as an audit committee financial expert. Charles M. Fleischman Mr. Fleischman has served as an Advanced Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative since 2015. Mr. Fleischman held multiple positions at Digene Corporation, a biotechnology medical device company that is now part of publicly-traded Qiagen N.V., from 1990 to 2006, including president, chief financial officer, chief operating officer and a director. Mr. Fleischman served as director of Cord Blood Registry, a newborn stem cell company that is now part of publicly-traded AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from 2012 to 2015. He served as director of Assurex Health, Inc., a privately-held personalized medicine company that specializes in pharmacogenomics, from 2014 to 2015. Mr. Fleischman also served as director of One Lambda, Inc., a developer and distributer of a line of histocompatibility typing and antibody detection products, laboratory instrumentation and computer software that is now part of publicly-traded Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., from 2009 to 2012. Mr. Fleischman also served as a director of Dako A/S, a global leader in tissue-based cancer diagnostics that is now part of publicly-traded Agilent Technologies Inc., from 2007 to 2009. Mr. Fleischman has a bachelor's degree in History from Harvard College and obtained his master's of business administration degree from the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Fleischman is qualified to serve on the board based on his leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry. Mr. Fleischman qualifies as an audit committee financial expert. Steven J. Shulman Since 2008, Mr. Shulman has served as managing partner of Shulman Family Ventures, a private equity firm. Mr. Shulman served as an operating partner at Water Street Health Partners, a healthcare-focused private equity firm, from 2008 until March 2015. He currently serves as chairman of Accretive Health, Inc., a publicly-traded service and technology provider to healthcare providers, and CareCentrix, Inc., a privately-held at-home healthcare provider, positions he has held since 2014 and 2008, respectively. Mr. Shulman currently serves as a director of Healthmarkets, Inc., a publicly-traded technology-enabled health insurance marketplace, Quantum Health, Inc., a privately-held healthcare coordination and consumer navigation company, MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc., a privately-held pharmacy benefit manager and Facet Technologies, LLC, a privately-held microsampling sharps products provider, positions he has held since 2006, 2013, 2013 and 2011, respectively. Mr. Shulman has a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in health services administration from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He also completed the advanced management program at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Shulman's experience in private equity investment, his experience as an operating partner for a healthcare private equity firm and his experience as chief executive of several large organizations in the healthcare industry, as well as his financial expertise, qualifies him to serve on the board. Ralph H. "Randy" Thurman Mr. Thurman has served as a private equity senior advisor and operating executive since 2008. He is currently a member of the executive investment council of Levitt Equity Partners and Senior Advisor for BC Partners, both private equity firms. From July 2008 to October 2011, Mr. Thurman served as a director of CardioNet, Inc., a publicly-traded global medical technology company focused on diagnosing and monitoring cardiac arrhythmias, where he also served as executive chairman from July 2008 to January 2009, as president and chief executive officer from February 2009 to June 2010 and as chairman from June 2009 until his resignation from the board of directors in October 2011. From 2000 to 2007, he was a Founder, chairman and chief executive officer of VIASYS Healthcare Inc., a privately-held healthcare technology company. From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Thurman was lead director of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, a publicly-traded global pharmaceutical company. Mr. Thurman received a bachelor's degree in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree in management from Webster University. Mr. Thurman is qualified to serve as a director of the Company on the basis of his valuable financial and corporate governance expertise. Mr. Thurman qualifies as an audit committee financial expert. Neither the calling of a special meeting nor the approval by Depomed shareholders of any of the proposals at the special meeting, including the proposal to remove Depomed's current directors, would ensure that Depomed pursues or consummates the acquisition proposal that Horizon has made or any other business combination with Horizon.