Have you recalled a similar instance happening before?
Yes, ImClone’s Waksal brothers exercised options and held the resulting shares during the summer of 2001. ImClone’s blockbuster licensing and equity deal with BMY was announced in September, causing IMCL’s share price to rocket from the $40s to $70 (BMY’s equity-purchase price).
There have been other instances of substantial insider-exercise-and-hold transactions, but the case involving the Waksals is perhaps the most notorious.