san diego march 10 2022 globe newswire  crinetics pharmaceuticals inc nasdaqcrnx a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrinerelated tumors today announced that on march 10 2022 the compensation committee of crinetics board of directors granted nonqualified stock option awards to purchase an aggregate of 121500 shares of its common stock to five new nonexecutive employees under the crinetics pharmaceuticals inc 2021 employment inducement incentive award plan the 2021 inducement plan the stock options were granted as inducements material to the employees entering into employment with crinetics in accordance with nasdaq listing rule 5635c4  the 2021 inducement plan is used exclusively for the grant of equity awards to individuals who were not previously employees of crinetics or following a bona fide period of nonemployment as an inducement material to such individuals entering into employment with crinetics pursuant to nasdaq listing rule 5635c4 the options have an exercise price of 1973 per share which is equal to the closing price of crinetics common stock on the nasdaq global select market on march 10 2022 the shares subject to the stock options will vest over four years with 25 of the shares vesting on the oneyear anniversary of the applicable vesting commencement date and the balance of the shares vesting in a series of 36 successive equal monthly installments thereafter subject to each employees continued employment with crinetics on such vesting dates the options are subject to the terms and conditions of the 2021 inducement plan and the terms and conditions of a stock option agreement covering the grant about crinetics pharmaceuticals  crinetics pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrinerelated tumors the companys lead product candidate paltusotine is an investigational oral selective nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 2 biased agonist for the treatment of acromegaly an orphan disease affecting more than 26000 people in the united states a phase 3 clinical program in acromegaly with paltusotine is underway crinetics also plans to advance paltusotine into a phase 2 trial for the treatment of carcinoid syndrome associated with neuroendocrine tumors the company is also developing crn04777 an investigational oral nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 5 sst5 agonist for congenital hyperinsulinism as well as crn04894 an investigational oral nonpeptide acth antagonist for the treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia cushings disease and other diseases of excess acth all of the companys drug candidates are new chemical entities resulting from inhouse drug discovery efforts