AVROBIO Announces Inducement Grant Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

Rhea-AI Summary

AVROBIO, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVRO) has granted a non-statutory stock option for the purchase of 120,000 shares of common stock to new Chief Medical Officer Essra Ridha, M.D., as part of the 2019 Inducement Plan. The stock option, dated November 1, 2021, has an exercise price of $5.67 per share, aligning with the closing stock price on that date. The option has a 10-year term and vests over four years, contingent on continued employment. AVROBIO aims to advance gene therapy for various genetic diseases including Fabry and Gaucher diseases.

Positive

• Grant of 120,000 stock options to new CMO indicates company confidence in leadership.
• Stock option exercise price aligns with current market value, showcasing potential for growth.

Negative

• None.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AVROBIO, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVRO), a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company with a mission to free people from a lifetime of genetic disease, today announced that the company has granted a non-statutory stock option for the purchase of up to 120,000 shares of the company’s common stock to the company’s new Chief Medical Officer, Essra Ridha, M.D., as an inducement award under the company’s 2019 Inducement Plan. The grant was made in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

The stock option was granted as inducement material to the new employee’s acceptance of employment with the company and was approved by the Compensation Committee of the company’s Board of Directors. The stock option was granted on Nov. 1, 2021, with an exercise price of $5.67 per share, representing the closing price of AVROBIO’s common stock as reported by Nasdaq on the grant date.

The stock option award has a 10-year term and vests over four years, with 25 percent of the original number of shares vesting on the first anniversary of the employee’s new hire date and the remainder vesting in equal monthly installments over the following three years. Vesting of the option award is subject to continued service with AVROBIO by the employee through the applicable vesting dates.

About AVROBIO
Our vision is to bring personalized gene therapy to the world. We aim to prevent, halt or reverse disease throughout the body with a single dose of gene therapy designed to drive durable expression of therapeutic protein, even in hard-to-reach tissues and organs including brain, muscle and bone. Our ex vivo lentiviral gene therapy pipeline includes clinical programs in Fabry disease, Gaucher disease type 1 and cystinosis, as well as preclinical programs in Hunter syndrome, Gaucher disease type 3 and Pompe disease. AVROBIO is powered by our industry leading plato^® gene therapy platform, our foundation designed to deliver gene therapy worldwide. We are headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., with an office in Toronto, Ontario. For additional information, visit avrobio.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words and phrases such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “designed to,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “seeks,” “will,” and variations of these words and phrases or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our business strategy for and the potential therapeutic benefits of our prospective product candidates, the design, commencement, enrollment and timing of ongoing or planned clinical trials, clinical trial results, product approvals and regulatory pathways, anticipated benefits of our gene therapy platform including potential impact on our commercialization activities, timing and likelihood of success, the expected benefits and results of our implementation of the plato® platform in our clinical trials and gene therapy programs and the expected safety profile of our investigational gene therapies. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Results in preclinical or early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of results from later stage or larger scale clinical trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented.

Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on AVROBIO’s current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry as well as management’s current beliefs and expectations of future events only as of today and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that any one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates will not be successfully developed or commercialized, the risk of cessation or delay of any ongoing or planned clinical trials of AVROBIO or our collaborators, the risk that AVROBIO may not successfully recruit or enroll a sufficient number of patients for our clinical trials, the risk that AVROBIO may not realize the intended benefits of our gene therapy platform, including the features of our plato® platform, the risk that our product candidates or procedures in connection with the administration thereof will not have the safety or efficacy profile that we anticipate, the risk that prior results, such as signals of safety, activity or durability of effect, observed from preclinical or clinical trials, will not be replicated or will not continue in ongoing or future studies or trials involving AVROBIO’s product candidates, the risk that we will be unable to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates, the risk that the size and growth potential of the market for our product candidates will not materialize as expected, risks associated with our dependence on third-party suppliers and manufacturers, risks regarding the accuracy of our estimates of expenses and future revenue, risks relating to our capital requirements and needs for additional financing, risks relating to clinical trial and business interruptions resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak or similar public health crises, including that such interruptions may materially delay our development timeline and/or increase our development costs or that data collection efforts may be impaired or otherwise impacted by such crises, and risks relating to our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our product candidates. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause AVROBIO’s actual results to differ materially and adversely from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in AVROBIO’s most recent Quarterly Report, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties and other important factors in AVROBIO’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AVROBIO explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211105005226/en/

Investor:

Christopher F. Brinzey

Westwicke, an ICR Company

339-970-2843

chris.brinzey@westwicke.com

Media:

Kit Rodophele

Ten Bridge Communications

krodophele@tenbridgecommunications.com

Source: AVROBIO, Inc.

FAQ

What is the stock option grant for AVROBIO's new CMO?

AVROBIO granted a stock option for 120,000 shares to new CMO Essra Ridha, M.D., with an exercise price of $5.67.

When was the stock option granted to AVROBIO's new Chief Medical Officer?

The stock option was granted on November 1, 2021.

How does the stock option vest for AVROBIO's new CMO?

The stock option vests over four years, with 25% vesting on the first anniversary and the rest in monthly installments.

What is AVROBIO's mission?

AVROBIO aims to free people from a lifetime of genetic disease through personalized gene therapy.

Which diseases is AVROBIO targeting with its gene therapy?

AVROBIO is focusing on Fabry disease, Gaucher disease type 1, and cystinosis, among others.