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

Rhea-AI Summary

AVROBIO, a clinical-stage gene therapy company, has awarded a stock option to a new employee for the purchase of 22,000 shares at an exercise price of $1.25 per share. This grant, made on April 1, 2022, serves as an inducement for employment under the company’s Inducement Plan and adheres to Nasdaq regulations. The option vests over four years, with 25% vesting after one year, contingent upon the employee's ongoing service. AVROBIO focuses on gene therapies for genetic diseases and aims to offer innovative solutions through its plato® platform.

Positive

• Stock option grant of 22,000 shares may enhance employee retention and motivation.
• The exercise price of $1.25 reflects the company's current share price, ensuring alignment with market value.
• Long-term vesting period (10 years) encourages commitment from the employee.

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 22,000 shares of the company’s common stock to one employee 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 April 1, 2022, with an exercise price of $1.25 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 and/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. AVROBIO’s pipeline is powered by our industry-leading plato® gene therapy platform, our foundation designed to deliver gene therapy worldwide. It includes clinical programs in cystinosis and Gaucher disease type 1, as well as preclinical programs in Gaucher disease type 3, Hunter syndrome and Pompe disease. We are headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For additional information, visit avrobio.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statement
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 current and prospective product candidates, including the implementation of the plato^® platform in our clinical trials and gene therapy programs and its potential impact on our commercialization activities. 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 enrollment and development timelines 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K, 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/20220406005026/en/

Investor Contact:

Christopher F. Brinzey

Westwicke, an ICR Company

339-970-2843

chris.brinzey@westwicke.com



Media Contact:

Kit Rodophele

Ten Bridge Communications

617-999-9620

krodophele@tenbridgecommunications.com

Source: AVROBIO, Inc.

FAQ

What stock option was granted by AVROBIO on April 1, 2022?

AVROBIO granted a stock option for 22,000 shares at an exercise price of $1.25 per share.

How long is the term for the stock option granted by AVROBIO?

The stock option has a 10-year term.

What are the vesting conditions for the stock option awarded to the new employee?

The stock option vests over four years, with 25% vesting on the first anniversary of the hire date.

What is AVROBIO's focus in gene therapy?

AVROBIO aims to provide innovative gene therapies for genetic diseases using its plato® platform.

How does AVROBIO ensure compliance with Nasdaq regulations through its stock option grants?

The stock option grant adheres to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which governs inducement awards.