[Form 4] Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. Insider Trading Activity
Mark L. Jacobson, Chief Operating Officer and director of Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM), reported option exercise and a subsequent sale on 09/22/2025. He exercised 10,000 stock options with an exercise price of $2.85 per share, acquiring 10,000 shares. Those shares were then sold in open market transactions at a weighted average price of $115.96 per share, leaving him with 0 shares beneficially owned following the transactions. The filing states the exercise was necessary because the options were reaching their 10-year expiration and that both the exercise and sale were made pursuant to a pre-approved Rule 10b5-1 plan which has now completed.
- Transaction conducted under a pre-approved 10b5-1 plan, indicating procedural compliance
- Exercise and sale completed, with the insider realizing proceeds at a weighted average sale price of $115.96
- Exercise due to option expiration shows planned action to avoid lapse of options
- None.
Insights
TL;DR: Routine exercise-and-sale under a pre-approved 10b5-1 plan; procedural compliance, not a new policy signal.
The Form 4 documents a standard insider exercise of options reaching their 10-year term and an associated market sale executed under a pre-approved 10b5-1 plan. This sequence is consistent with governance best practices when insiders use affirmative-defense plans to avoid allegations of impermissible trading on material nonpublic information. The filing is explicit that the plan is complete and that the sale prices were executed across multiple open market trades, reducing questions about selective disclosure or ad-hoc selling.
TL;DR: Insider monetized option value, realizing a large per-share gain; the transaction is informative on realized value but not on company fundamentals.
The reporting shows an exercise at $2.85 and a weighted average sale at $115.96, indicating the insider realized substantial proceeds from option vesting. The transaction was processed under a 10b5-1 plan and described as completed, which frames it as pre-planned liquidity rather than an opportunistic trade. The Form 4 reports no remaining shares from this transaction, so there is no ongoing change in the insider's direct holdings from these specific instruments.