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

Rhea-AI Summary

AVROBIO, a clinical-stage gene therapy company, announced the grant of stock options and restricted stock units (RSUs) to new employees as part of its 2019 Inducement Plan. A total of 167,000 stock options and 2,667 RSUs were awarded to incentivize employee acceptance of roles. The stock options have a 10-year term with an exercise price of $1.95 per share, reflecting the company's closing price on the grant date, February 1, 2022. Vesting is structured over four years, contingent on continued service.

Positive

• Granting of 167,000 stock options and 2,667 RSUs may enhance employee motivation and retention.
• Stock options have a competitive exercise price of $1.95, aligning employee interests with company performance.

Negative

• None.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AVROBIO, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVRO), a leading clinical-stage gene therapy company with a shared purpose to free people from a lifetime of genetic disease, today announced that the company has granted non-statutory stock options for the purchase of up to an aggregate of 167,000 shares of the company’s common stock to three new employees as inducement awards under the company’s 2019 Inducement Plan. In addition, the company has granted 2,667 restricted stock units (RSUs) to one new employee as an inducement award under the company’s 2019 Inducement Plan. The grants were made in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

The stock options and RSUs were granted as inducement material to the new employees’ acceptance of employment with the company and were approved by the Compensation Committee of the company’s Board of Directors. The stock options and RSUs were granted on Feb. 1, 2022, with an exercise price of $1.95 per share for each stock option, representing the closing price of AVROBIO’s common stock as reported by Nasdaq on the grant date.

The stock option awards have a 10-year term and vest over four years, with 25 percent of the original number of shares vesting on the first anniversary of employees’ new hire dates and the remainder vesting in equal monthly installments over the following three years. The RSUs vest over four years, with 25 percent of the original number of shares vesting on the first anniversary of employee’s new hire date and the remainder vesting in equal annual installments over the following three years. Vesting of the inducement grants 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. 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., 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/20220204005090/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 options were granted by AVROBIO?

AVROBIO granted stock options for the purchase of 167,000 shares to new employees.

What is the exercise price of AVROBIO's stock options?

The exercise price for the stock options is $1.95 per share.

When were the stock options granted by AVROBIO?

The stock options were granted on February 1, 2022.

What is the vesting schedule for AVROBIO's stock options?

The stock options vest over four years, with 25% vesting on the first anniversary and the remainder vesting monthly.

How many RSUs were granted to AVROBIO's employees?

AVROBIO granted 2,667 restricted stock units (RSUs) to one new employee.