The board of directors of BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: BSTC), a biopharmaceutical company, has adopted a stockholder rights plan to replace BioSpecifics' current rights plan, which has been terminated It was reported on 10 April 2020.

BioSpecifics aims to submit the rights plan, which is similar to rights plans adopted by many other public companies, for stockholder ratification at its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

This rights plan is intended to assist the board of directors in protecting the company's stockholders from certain takeover tactics that the board believes may be abusive. The rights plan was not adopted in response to any specific takeover proposal, any present accumulation of shares, or any presently threatened or pending effort to acquire control of BioSpecifics of which the board is aware. The rights plan was adopted to give the board time to assess and respond to any unsolicited attempts to acquire BioSpecifics and to encourage anyone seeking control of or seeking to acquire BioSpecifics to negotiate with the board prior to attempting such action, with the aim of protecting the long-term value of the stockholders' investment in BioSpecifics. The rights plan provides for a 20% stock ownership threshold, at which rights under the plan may become exercisable and contains a qualifying offer clause. The rights plan has a term of three years and expires on 9 April 2023. The rights plan does not contain any dead-hand, slow-hand, no-hand or similar feature that limits the ability of a future board of directors to redeem the rights. In connection with approving the rights plan, the board has also declared a dividend distribution of one right for each outstanding share of common stock. The record date for such dividend distribution is 21 April 2020.