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TECX US Equity

Tectonic Therapeutic, Inc.Health Care · Biological Products, (No Diagnostic Substances) · CIK 1681087 · FY ends Dec 31
$37.04
+0.43 (+1.17%)
USD · as of 2026-08-19 · marketstack

TECX · 10-K · period ended 2023-12-31

← all TECX documents
filed 2024-03-14 · EDGAR original ↗

Our rendering of the filing — original pagination and typography are not reproduced, and tables are reduced to their short label cells (the figures live on FA). Nothing is summarized: every line below is the filing's own text.

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Item 1A.Risk Factors.

Investing in AVROBIO common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risks and uncertainties, together with all other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including AVROBIO’s consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” as well as AVROBIO’s other filings with the SEC, before investing in AVROBIO common stock. Any of the risk factors described below could adversely affect AVROBIO’s business, financial condition or results of operations. The market price of AVROBIO common stock could decline if one or more of these risks or uncertainties were to occur, which may cause you to lose all or part of the money you paid to buy AVROBIO common stock. Additional risks that are currently unknown to AVROBIO or that AVROBIO currently believes to be immaterial may also impair AVROBIO’s business. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See “Forward-Looking Information” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Risks Related to the Merger with Tectonic

The exchange ratio will not change or otherwise be adjusted based on the market price of AVROBIO common stock as the exchange ratio depends on AVROBIO’s net cash at the closing and not the market price of AVROBIO common stock, so the merger consideration at the closing may have a greater or lesser value than at the time the Merger Agreement was signed.

The Merger Agreement has set an exchange ratio for Tectonic capital stock being converted into AVROBIO’s common stock, and the exchange ratio is based on the outstanding capital stock of Tectonic and the outstanding common stock of AVROBIO, in each case immediately prior to the closing. Applying the exchange ratio formula in the Merger Agreement, and after giving further effect to the proposed private financings, AVROBIO securityholders as of immediately prior to the merger are expected to own approximately 22.3% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the combined company, former Tectonic securityholders are expected to own approximately 39.8% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the combined company, and purchasers of Tectonic common stock in the private financings are expected to represent approximately 38.0% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the combined company, subject to certain assumptions. Under certain circumstances further described in the Merger Agreement, the ownership percentages may be adjusted up or down including, but not limited to, if AVROBIO’s net cash as of closing is lower than $64.5 million or greater than $65.5 million. AVROBIO management currently anticipates AVROBIO’s net cash as of closing will be approximately $65.0 million to $75.0 million and the currently estimated ownership percentages are based on an assumption of closing net cash of approximately $65.0 million. In the event AVROBIO’s net cash is below $65.0 million, the exchange ratio will be adjusted such that the number of shares issued to the pre-merger Tectonic securityholders will be increased, and AVROBIO stockholders will own a smaller percentage of the combined company following the merger.

Any changes in the market price of AVROBIO common stock before the completion of the merger will not affect the number of shares Tectonic stockholders will be entitled to receive pursuant to the Merger Agreement. Therefore, if before the completion of the merger, the market price of AVROBIO common stock increases from the market price on the date of the Merger Agreement, then Tectonic stockholders could receive merger consideration with substantially more value for their shares of Tectonic capital stock than the parties had negotiated when they established the exchange ratio. Similarly, if before the completion of the merger the market price of AVROBIO common stock declines from the market price on the date of the Merger Agreement, then Tectonic stockholders could receive merger consideration with substantially lower value. The Merger Agreement does not include a price-based termination right.

Failure to complete the merger may result in either AVROBIO or Tectonic paying a termination fee to the other party, and could harm the AVROBIO common stock price and future business and operations of each company.

If the merger is not completed, AVROBIO and Tectonic are subject to the following risks:

if the Merger Agreement is terminated under specified circumstances, AVROBIO could be required to pay Tectonic a termination fee of $2,712,500, and Tectonic could be required to pay AVROBIO a termination fee of $4,900,000;

if the Merger Agreement is terminated by AVROBIO or Tectonic due to AVROBIO stockholders voting on and failing to approve certain proposals, AVROBIO will be required to reimburse Tectonic for merger-related expenses up to $650,000. The expense reimbursement, to the extent paid, will be credited against any termination fee payable by AVROBIO in the transaction;

the price of AVROBIO common stock may decline and could fluctuate significantly; and

costs related to the merger, such as financial advisor, legal and accounting fees, a majority of which must be paid even if the merger is not completed.

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If the Merger Agreement is terminated and the AVROBIO Board or the Tectonic board of directors, or Tectonic Board, determines to seek another business combination, there can be no assurance that either AVROBIO or Tectonic will be able to find another third party to transact a business combination with, yielding comparable or greater benefits.

If the conditions to the merger are not satisfied or waived the merger may not occur.

Certain proposals are a condition to completion of the merger. Therefore, the merger cannot be consummated without the approval of such proposals. If the AVROBIO stockholders do not approve such proposals, failure to consummate the merger may harm AVROBIO and/or Tectonic. Even if the merger is approved by the Tectonic stockholders and the requisite proposals are approved by the AVROBIO stockholders, specified conditions must be satisfied or, to the extent permitted by applicable law, waived to complete the merger, as set forth in the Merger Agreement. AVROBIO and Tectonic cannot provide any assurance that all of the conditions to the consummation of the merger will be satisfied or waived. If the conditions are not satisfied or waived, the merger may not occur or the closing may be delayed.

The merger may be completed even though a material adverse effect may result from the announcement of the merger, industry-wide changes or other causes.

In general, neither AVROBIO nor Tectonic is obligated to complete the merger if there is a material adverse effect affecting the other party between January 30, 2024 (the date of the Merger Agreement), and the closing of the merger. However, certain types of causes are excluded from the concept of a “material adverse effect.” Such exclusions include but are not limited to changes in general economic or political conditions, industry wide changes, changes resulting from the announcement of the merger, natural disasters, pandemics (including the COVID-19 pandemic), other force majeure events, acts or threat of terrorism or war and changes in GAAP. Therefore, if any of these events were to occur and adversely affect AVROBIO or Tectonic, the other party would still be obliged to consummate the closing notwithstanding such material adverse effect. If any such adverse effects occur and AVROBIO and Tectonic consummate the closing, the stock price of the combined company may suffer. This in turn may reduce the value of the merger to the AVROBIO stockholders, Tectonic stockholders or both.

If AVROBIO and Tectonic complete the merger, the combined company will need to raise additional capital by issuing equity securities or additional debt or through licensing arrangements, which may cause significant dilution to the combined company’s stockholders or restrict the combined company’s operations.

On January 30, 2024, Tectonic entered into the Subscription Agreement with certain investors named therein, pursuant to which such investors agreed to purchase shares of Tectonic common stock, at a purchase price currently estimated at approximately $96.6 million in the aggregate, for an aggregate purchase price among the transactions contemplated by the Subscription Agreement and the Tectonic SAFEs of approximately $130.7 million. The closings of the private placement financings are conditioned upon the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions to the closing as well as certain other conditions. The shares of AVROBIO common stock upon the exchange at closing of the private financing shares issued in the private financings will result in dilution to all securityholders of the combined company (i.e., both the pre-merger AVROBIO securityholders and former Tectonic securityholders).

Additional financing may not be available to the combined company when it is needed or may not be available on favorable terms. To the extent that the combined company raises additional capital by issuing equity securities, such financing will cause additional dilution to all securityholders of the combined company, including AVROBIO’s pre-merger securityholders and Tectonic’s former securityholders. It is also possible that the terms of any new equity securities may have preferences over the combined company’s common stock. Any debt financing the combined company enters into may involve covenants that restrict its operations. These restrictive covenants may include limitations on additional borrowing and specific restrictions on the use of the combined company’s assets, as well as prohibitions on its ability to create liens, pay dividends, redeem its stock or make investments. In addition, if the combined company raises additional funds through licensing arrangements, it may be necessary to grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to the combined company.

Some AVROBIO and Tectonic directors and executive officers have interests in the merger that are different from AVROBIO stockholders and that may influence them to support or approve the merger without regard to AVROBIO stockholders’ interests.

Directors and executive officers of AVROBIO and Tectonic may have interests in the merger that are different from, or in addition to, the interests of other AVROBIO stockholders generally. These interests with respect to AVROBIO’s directors and executive officers may include, among others: acceleration or vesting of certain AVROBIO stock options or AVROBIO RSUs, retention bonus payments, extension of exercisability periods of previously issued AVROBIO stock option grants, severance payments if employment is terminated in a qualifying termination in connection with the merger and rights to continued indemnification, expense advancement and insurance coverage. One member of the AVROBIO Board will continue as a director of the combined company after the effective time, and, following the closing, will be eligible to be compensated as a non-employee director of the combined company. All of AVROBIO’s directors and executive officers are

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entitled to certain indemnification and liability insurance coverage pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement. These interests, among others, may influence the officers and directors of AVROBIO and cause them to view the merger differently from how AVROBIO stockholders generally may view it.

Tectonic’s directors and executive officers may also have interests in the merger that are different from, or in addition to, the interests of other AVROBIO stockholders generally. Such interests may include, among others, certain of Tectonic’s directors and executive officers have options, subject to vesting, to purchase shares of Tectonic common stock which, after the effective time, will be converted into and become options to purchase shares of the common stock of the combined company, Tectonic’s executive officers are expected to continue as executive officers of the combined company after the effective time and all of Tectonic’s directors and executive officers are entitled to certain indemnification and liability insurance coverage pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement.

Current members of the Tectonic Board may continue as directors of the combined company after the effective time, and, following the closing, will be eligible to be compensated as non-employee directors of the combined company pursuant to the combined company’s non-employee director compensation policy.

The AVROBIO Board and Tectonic Board were aware of and considered those interests, among other matters, in reaching their decisions to approve and adopt the Merger Agreement, approve the merger, and recommend the approval of the Merger Agreement to AVROBIO and Tectonic stockholders. These interests, among other factors, may have influenced the directors and executive officers of AVROBIO and Tectonic to support or approve the merger.

AVROBIO stockholders and Tectonic stockholders may not realize a benefit from the merger commensurate with the ownership dilution they will experience in connection with the merger, including the issuance of Tectonic common stock in the private financings.

If the combined company is unable to realize the full strategic and financial benefits currently anticipated from the merger, AVROBIO stockholders and Tectonic stockholders will have experienced substantial dilution of their ownership interests without receiving any commensurate benefit, or only receiving part of the commensurate benefit to the extent the combined company is able to realize only part of the strategic and financial benefits currently anticipated from the merger.

If the merger is not completed, AVROBIO’s stock price may decline significantly.

The market price of AVROBIO common stock is subject to significant fluctuations. Market prices for securities of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life science companies have historically been particularly volatile. In addition, the market price of AVROBIO common stock will likely be volatile based on whether stockholders and other investors believe that AVROBIO can complete the merger or otherwise raise additional capital to support AVROBIO’s operations if the merger is not consummated and another strategic transaction cannot be identified, negotiated and consummated in a timely manner, if at all. The volatility of the market price of AVROBIO common stock has been and is expected to continue to be exacerbated by low trading volume. Additional factors that may cause the market price of AVROBIO common stock to fluctuate include:

the entry into, or termination of, key agreements, including strategic licensing or commercial partner agreements;

announcements by partners or competitors of new commercial products, clinical progress or lack thereof, significant contracts, commercial relationships or capital commitments;

the loss of key employees;

future sales of its common stock;

general and industry-specific economic conditions that may affect its research and development expenditures;

the failure to meet industry analyst expectations; and

period-to-period fluctuations in financial results.

Moreover, the stock markets in general have experienced substantial volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may also adversely affect the trading price of AVROBIO common stock. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, stockholders have often instituted class action securities litigation against such companies.

AVROBIO and Tectonic securityholders will generally have a reduced ownership and voting interest in, and will exercise less influence over the management of, the combined company following the completion of the merger as compared to their current ownership and voting interests in the respective companies.

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After the completion of the merger, the current AVROBIO stockholders and Tectonic stockholders will generally own a smaller percentage of the combined company than their ownership of their respective companies prior to the merger. Following the merger and after giving further effect to the proposed private financings, AVROBIO securityholders as of immediately prior to the merger are expected to own approximately 22.3% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the combined company, former Tectonic securityholders are expected to own approximately 39.8% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the combined company, and purchasers of Tectonic common stock in the private financings are expected to represent approximately 38.0% of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the combined company, subject to certain assumptions. Under certain circumstances further described in the Merger Agreement, the ownership percentages may be adjusted up or down including, but not limited to, if AVROBIO’s net cash as of closing is lower than $64.5 million or greater than $65.5 million. AVROBIO management currently anticipates AVROBIO’s net cash as of closing will be approximately $65.0 million to $75.0 million and the currently estimated ownership percentages are based on an assumption of AVROBIO’s net cash of approximately $65.0 million at closing.

The Chief Executive Officer of Tectonic will serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the combined company following the completion of the merger. In addition, the board of directors of the combined company will initially include one member of the AVROBIO Board. Consequently, former securityholders of AVROBIO will not be able to exercise the same influence over the management and policies of the combined company following the closing of the merger than they currently exercise over the management and policies of AVROBIO.

The Merger Agreement contains provisions that limit AVROBIO’s and Tectonic’s ability to pursue alternatives to the merger, could discourage a potential competing acquiror of AVROBIO or Tectonic from making an alternative transaction proposal and, in specified circumstances, could require AVROBIO or Tectonic to pay a termination fee, which could significantly harm the market price of AVROBIO’s common stock and negatively affect the financial condition, future business and operations of each company.

Covenants in the Merger Agreement impede the ability of AVROBIO and Tectonic to make acquisitions during the pendency of the merger, subject to specified exceptions. As a result, if the merger is not completed, the parties may be at a disadvantage to their competitors during that period. In addition, while the Merger Agreement is in effect, each party is generally prohibited from soliciting, seeking, initiating or knowingly encouraging, inducing or facilitating the communication, making, submission or announcement of any Acquisition Proposal or Acquisition Inquiry (each as defined in the Merger Agreement) or taking any action that could reasonably be expected to lead to certain transactions involving a third party, including a merger, sale of assets or other business combination, subject to specified exceptions. Any such transactions could be favorable to such party’s stockholders, but the parties may be unable to pursue them.

If the merger is not completed and the Merger Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, AVROBIO may be required to pay Tectonic a termination fee of $2,712,500, or Tectonic may be required to pay AVROBIO a termination fee of $4,900,000. Additionally, if the Merger Agreement is terminated by AVROBIO or Tectonic due to AVROBIO stockholders voting on and failing to approve certain proposals, AVROBIO will be required to reimburse Tectonic for merger-related expenses up to $650,000. The expense reimbursement, to the extent paid, will be credited against any termination fee payable by AVROBIO in the transaction. Even if a termination fee is not payable in connection with a termination of the Merger Agreement, each of AVROBIO and Tectonic will have incurred significant fees and expenses, which must be paid whether or not the merger is completed. Further, if the proposed merger is not completed, it could significantly harm the market price of AVROBIO common stock.

In addition, if the Merger Agreement is terminated and AVROBIO or Tectonic determines to seek another business combination, there can be no assurance that either AVROBIO or Tectonic will be able to find a partner and close an alternative transaction on terms that are as favorable or more favorable than the terms set forth in the Merger Agreement.

Because the lack of a public market for Tectonic common stock makes it difficult to evaluate the fair market value of Tectonic’s capital stock, the value of the AVROBIO common stock to be issued to Tectonic stockholders may be more or less than the fair market value of Tectonic common stock.

The outstanding capital stock of Tectonic is privately held and is not traded in any public market. The lack of a public market makes it difficult to determine the fair market value of Tectonic’s capital stock. Because the percentage of AVROBIO equity to be issued to Tectonic stockholders was determined based on negotiations between the parties, it is possible that the value of the AVROBIO common stock to be issued to Tectonic stockholders will be more or less than the fair market value of Tectonic’s capital stock.

The tax treatment of the CVRs is subject to substantial uncertainty.

There is substantial uncertainty as to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the CVRs and payments (if any) thereon. There is no legal authority directly addressing the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the receipt of, holding of, or payments

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under, the CVRs, and there can be no assurance that the Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, would not assert, or that a court would not sustain, a position that could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to holders of the CVRs.

AVROBIO does not intend to report the issuance of the CVRs as a current distribution of property with respect to its stock, but it is possible that the IRS could assert that AVROBIO stockholders are treated as having received a distribution of property equal to the fair market value of the CVRs on the date the CVRs are distributed, which could be taxable to AVROBIO stockholders without the corresponding receipt of cash. In addition, it is possible that the IRS or a court could determine that the issuance of the CVRs (and/or any payments thereon) and the reverse stock split constitute a single “recapitalization” for U.S. federal income tax purposes with the CVRs constituting taxable “boot” received in such recapitalization exchange. In such case, the tax consequences of the CVRs and the reverse stock split would differ from the anticipated consequences, including with respect to the timing and character of income.

Risks Related to the Proposed Reverse Stock Split

The reverse stock split may not increase the combined company’s stock price over the long-term.

The principal purposes of the reverse stock split are to (i) increase the per-share market price of AVROBIO common stock above the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement so that the listing of AVROBIO and the shares of AVROBIO common stock being issued in the merger on Nasdaq will be approved and (ii) increase the number of authorized and unissued shares available for future issuance in connection with the merger. It cannot be assured, however, that the reverse stock split will accomplish any increase in the per-share market price of AVROBIO common stock for any meaningful period of time. While it is expected that the reduction in the number of outstanding shares of common stock will proportionally increase the market price of AVROBIO common stock, it cannot be assured that the reverse stock split will increase the market price of its common stock by a multiple of the reverse stock split ratio mutually agreed by AVROBIO and Tectonic, or result in any permanent or sustained increase in the market price of AVROBIO common stock, which is dependent upon many factors, including AVROBIO’s business and financial performance, general market conditions and prospects for future success. Thus, while the stock price of AVROBIO common stock might meet the listing requirements for Nasdaq initially after the reverse stock split, it cannot be assured that it will continue to do so.

The reverse stock split may decrease the liquidity of the combined company’s common stock.

Although the AVROBIO Board believes that the anticipated increase in the market price of the combined company’s common stock resulting from the proposed reverse stock split could encourage interest in its common stock and possibly promote greater liquidity for its stockholders, such liquidity could also be adversely affected by the reduced number of shares outstanding after the reverse stock split. The reduction in the number of outstanding shares may lead to reduced trading and a smaller number of market makers for the combined company’s common stock. In addition, the reverse stock split may not result in an increase in the combined company’s stock price necessary to satisfy Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements for the combined company.

The reverse stock split may lead to a decrease in the combined company’s overall market capitalization.

Should the market price of the combined company’s common stock decline after the reverse stock split, the percentage decline may be greater, due to the smaller number of shares outstanding, than it would have been prior to the reverse stock split. A reverse stock split is often viewed negatively by the market and, consequently, can lead to a decrease in the combined company’s overall market capitalization. If the per share market price does not increase in proportion to the reverse stock split ratio, then the value of the combined company, as measured by its stock capitalization, will be reduced. In some cases, the per-share stock price of companies that have effected reverse stock splits subsequently declined back to pre-reverse split levels, and accordingly, it cannot be assured that the total market value of the combined company’s common stock will remain the same after the reverse stock split is effected, or that the reverse stock split will not have an adverse effect on the combined company’s stock price due to the reduced number of shares outstanding after the reverse stock split.

Risks Related to AVROBIO’s Strategic Alternative Process and Potential Strategic Transaction

Failure to complete, or delays in completing, the proposed merger with Tectonic could materially and adversely affect AVROBIO’s results of operations, business, financial results and/or stock price.

In July 2023, AVROBIO announced that it was undertaking a comprehensive exploration of strategic alternatives focused on maximizing stockholder value, which may include, but are not limited to, an acquisition, a merger, business combination or divestiture. After a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, including identifying and reviewing potential candidates for the merger, on January 30, 2024, AVROBIO entered into the Merger Agreement with Tectonic and Merger Sub, pursuant to which, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into Tectonic, with Tectonic continuing as the surviving company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of AVROBIO. The closing is subject to approval by the AVROBIO stockholders and Tectonic stockholders as well as other customary closing

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conditions, including the effectiveness of a registration statement filed with the SEC in connection with the transaction. If the merger is completed, the business of Tectonic will continue as the business of the combined company. Any failure to satisfy a required condition to closing may prevent, delay or otherwise materially and adversely affect the completion of the transaction, which could materially and adversely affect AVROBIO’s results of operations, business, financial results and/or stock price. AVROBIO cannot predict with certainty whether or when any of the required closing conditions will be satisfied or if another uncertainty may arise and cannot assure you that the proposed merger will be successfully consummated or that AVROBIO will be able to successfully consummate the proposed merger as currently contemplated under the Merger Agreement or at all.

AVROBIO’s efforts to complete the merger could cause substantial disruptions in, and create uncertainty surrounding, AVROBIO’s business, which may materially adversely affect AVROBIO’s results of operations and AVROBIO’s business. Uncertainty as to whether the merger will be completed may affect AVROBIO’s ability to recruit prospective employees or to retain and motivate existing employees. Employee retention may be particularly challenging while the transaction is pending because employees may experience uncertainty about their roles following the transaction. A substantial amount of AVROBIO’s management’s and employees’ attention is being directed toward the completion of the transaction and thus is being diverted from AVROBIO’s day-to-day operations. Uncertainty as to AVROBIO’s future could adversely affect AVROBIO’s business and AVROBIO’s relationship with collaborators, suppliers, vendors, regulators and other business partners. For example, vendors, collaborators and other counterparties may defer decisions about working with AVROBIO or seek to change existing business relationships with AVROBIO. Changes to, or termination of, existing business relationships could adversely affect AVROBIO’s results of operations and financial condition, as well as the market price of AVROBIO’s common stock. The adverse effects of the pendency of the transaction could be exacerbated by any delays in completion of the transaction or termination of the Merger Agreement.

Risks related to the failure to consummate, or delay in consummating, the proposed merger with Tectonic include, but are not limited to, the following:

AVROBIO may not realize any or all of the potential benefits of the merger, which could have a negative effect on AVROBIO’s results of operations, business or stock price;

under some circumstances, AVROBIO may be required to pay a termination fee to Tectonic of $2,712,500;

if the Merger Agreement is terminated by AVROBIO or Tectonic due to AVROBIO stockholders voting on and failing to approve certain proposals, AVROBIO will be required to reimburse Tectonic for merger-related expenses up to $650,000. The expense reimbursement, to the extent paid, will be credited against any termination fee payable by AVROBIO in the transaction;

AVROBIO would remain liable for significant transaction costs, including legal, accounting, financial advisory and other costs relating to the merger regardless of whether the merger is consummated;

the trading price of AVROBIO common stock may decline to the extent that the current market price for AVROBIO common stock reflects a market assumption that the merger will be completed;

the attention of AVROBIO’s management and employees may have been diverted to the merger rather than to AVROBIO’s operations and the pursuit of other opportunities that could have been beneficial to AVROBIO;

AVROBIO could be subject to litigation related to any failure to complete the merger;

AVROBIO could potentially lose key personnel during the pendency of the merger as employees and other service providers may experience uncertainty about their future roles with AVROBIO following completion of the merger; and

under the Merger Agreement, AVROBIO is subject to certain customary restrictions on the conduct of AVROBIO’s business prior to completing the merger, which restrictions could adversely affect AVROBIO’s ability to conduct AVROBIO’s business as AVROBIO otherwise would have done if AVROBIO was not subject to these restrictions.

The occurrence of any of these events individually or in combination could materially and adversely affect AVROBIO’s results of operations, business, and AVROBIO’s stock price.

AVROBIO cannot be sure if or when the merger will be completed.

The consummation of the merger is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of various conditions, including the authorization of the merger by AVROBIO stockholders and Tectonic stockholders. AVROBIO cannot guarantee that the closing conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement will be satisfied. If AVROBIO is unable to satisfy certain closing conditions or if other mutual closing conditions are not satisfied, Tectonic will not be obligated to complete the merger.

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Under certain circumstances, AVROBIO would be required to pay Tectonic a termination fee of $2,712,500. Additionally, if the Merger Agreement is terminated by AVROBIO or Tectonic due to AVROBIO stockholders voting on and failing to approve certain proposals, AVROBIO will be required to reimburse Tectonic for merger-related expenses up to $650,000. The expense reimbursement, to the extent paid, will be credited against any termination fee payable by AVROBIO in the transaction. Even if a termination fee is not payable in connection with a termination of the Merger Agreement, AVROBIO will have incurred significant fees and expenses, which must be paid whether or not the merger is completed.

If the merger is not completed, the AVROBIO Board, in discharging its fiduciary obligations to AVROBIO stockholders, would evaluate other strategic alternatives or financing options that may be available, which alternatives may not be as favorable to AVROBIO stockholders as the merger, including a liquidation and dissolution. Any future sale or merger, financing or other transaction, including a liquidation or dissolution, may be subject to further stockholder approval. AVROBIO may also be unable to find, evaluate or complete other strategic alternatives, which may have a materially adverse effect on AVROBIO’s business.

Until the merger is completed, the Merger Agreement restricts Tectonic and AVROBIO from taking specified actions without the consent of the other party, and requires AVROBIO to operate in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice. These restrictions may prevent Tectonic and AVROBIO from making appropriate changes to AVROBIO respective businesses or pursuing attractive business opportunities that may arise prior to the completion of the merger. Further, if AVROBIO’s net cash at closing is lower than anticipated, either because expenses exceed current estimates or due to delays prior to closing, then the pre-merger AVROBIO stockholders will own less of the combined company pursuant to the exchange ratio adjustment set forth in the Merger Agreement.

Any delay in completing the proposed merger may materially and adversely affect the timing and benefits that are expected to be achieved from the proposed merger.

Lawsuits may be filed against AVROBIO and the members of the AVROBIO Board arising out of the proposed merger, which may delay or prevent the proposed merger.

Putative stockholder complaints, including stockholder class action complaints, and other complaints may be filed against AVROBIO, the AVROBIO Board, Tectonic, the Tectonic Board and others in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement. The outcome of litigation is uncertain, and AVROBIO may not be successful in defending against any such future claims. Lawsuits that may be filed against AVROBIO, the AVROBIO Board, Tectonic or the Tectonic Board could delay or prevent the merger, divert the attention of AVROBIO’s management and employees from AVROBIO’s day-to-day business and otherwise adversely affect AVROBIO’s financial condition. Litigation may also impact AVROBIO’s ability to consummate a potential strategic transaction or the ultimate value its stockholders receive in any such transaction.

In connection with the proposed merger, one action has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York captioned Garofalo v. Avrobio, Inc. et al., 24-cv-1493 (filed February 27, 2024). The foregoing complaint is referred to as the “Merger Action.”

The Merger Action alleges that the Form S-4 registration statement filed by AVROBIO on February 14, 2024 in connection the merger misrepresents and/or omits certain purportedly material information relating to the analyses performed by AVROBIO and the financial advisor to AVROBIO in connection with the merger, potential conflicts of interest of AVROBIO’s officers and directors, and the events that led to the signing of the Merger Agreement. The Merger Action asserts violations of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 14a-9 promulgated thereunder against all defendants (AVROBIO and the AVROBIO Board) and violations of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act against AVROBIO’s directors. The Merger Action seeks, among other things, an injunction enjoining the consummation of the merger, costs of the action, including plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees and experts’ fees, and other relief the court may deem just and proper.

Also in connection with the Merger Agreement, AVROBIO has received demand letters from four purported AVROBIO stockholders demanding that AVROBIO disclose certain additional information relating to the merger, or the Demands.

AVROBIO cannot predict the outcome of the Merger Action or the Demands. AVROBIO believes that the allegations and claims asserted in the Merger Action and the Demands are without merit and intends to defend against them vigorously. Additional lawsuits and demand letters arising out of the merger may also be filed or received in the future, though AVROBIO will not provide additional disclosures unless those new complaints or letters contain material differences from those received to date.

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AVROBIO stockholders potentially may not receive any payment on the CVRs and the CVRs may otherwise expire valueless.

The Merger Agreement contemplates that, at or prior to the effective time, AVROBIO, the holders’ representative and a rights agent will execute and deliver the CVR Agreement, pursuant to which AVROBIO stockholders of record as of immediately prior to the effective time (including holders of shares of AVROBIO common stock issued upon settlement of the AVROBIO RSUs) will receive one non-transferable CVR for each outstanding share of AVROBIO common stock held by such stockholder on such date, subject to and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the CVR Agreement. Pursuant to the CVR Agreement, each CVR holder is entitled to certain rights to receive a pro rata portion of 80% of the net proceeds (as defined in the CVR Agreement), if any, received by AVROBIO as a result of an AVROBIO disposition (including a license) of AVROBIO’s pre-closing assets after the effective date and prior to the 18-month anniversary of the closing, received within a 10-year period following the closing; provided that no contingent payment will be payable to any holder of the CVRs until such time as the then-outstanding and undistributed proceeds exceeds $350,000 in the aggregate. Such proceeds are subject to certain permitted deductions, including for applicable tax payments, certain expenses incurred by AVROBIO or its affiliates, losses incurred or reasonably expected to be incurred by AVROBIO or its subsidiaries due to a third party proceeding in connection with a disposition and certain wind-down costs. The contingent payments under the CVR Agreement, if they become payable, will become payable to the rights agent for subsequent distribution to the holders of the CVRs. In the event that no proceeds are received, holders of the CVRs will not receive any payment pursuant to the CVR Agreement. There can be no assurance that any holders of CVRs will receive payments with respect thereto.

The CVR Agreement provides that AVROBIO will use commercially reasonable efforts (as defined in the CVR Agreement) during the 18-month period following the closing to effect dispositions of AVROBIO’s pre-closing assets to a third party that has delivered inbound interest (as defined in the CVR Agreement) with respect to such assets. As a result, AVROBIO will have no obligations to affirmatively sell or market such assets, in the absence of such inbound interest.

AVROBIO may not be able to achieve successful results from the disposition of such assets as described above. If this is not achieved for any reason within the time periods specified in the CVR Agreement, no payments will be made under the CVRs, and the CVRs will expire valueless.

If AVROBIO does not successfully consummate the merger or another strategic transaction, the AVROBIO Board may decide to pursue a dissolution and liquidation of AVROBIO. In such an event, the amount of cash available for distribution to AVROBIO stockholders will depend heavily on the timing of such liquidation as well as the amount of cash that will need to be reserved for commitments and contingent liabilities, as to which AVROBIO can give you no assurance.

There can be no assurance that the merger will be completed. If the merger is not completed, the AVROBIO Board may decide to pursue a dissolution and liquidation of AVROBIO. In such an event, the amount of cash available for distribution to AVROBIO stockholders will depend heavily on the timing of such decision and, ultimately, such liquidation, since the amount of cash available for distribution continues to decrease as AVROBIO funds its operations while pursuing the merger. In addition, if the AVROBIO Board were to approve and recommend, and AVROBIO stockholders were to approve, a dissolution and liquidation of the company, AVROBIO would be required under Delaware corporate law to pay AVROBIO’s outstanding obligations, as well as to make reasonable provision for contingent and unknown obligations, prior to making any distributions in liquidation to stockholders. AVROBIO’s commitments and contingent liabilities may include obligations under AVROBIO’s employment and related agreements with certain employees that provide for severance and other payments following a termination of employment occurring for various reasons, including a change in control of the company, litigation against AVROBIO, and other various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business, and other unexpected and/or contingent liabilities. As a result of this requirement, a portion of AVROBIO’s assets would need to be reserved pending the resolution of such obligations.

In addition, AVROBIO may be subject to litigation or other claims related to a dissolution and liquidation of AVROBIO. If a dissolution and liquidation were to be pursued, the AVROBIO Board, in consultation with AVROBIO’s advisors, would need to evaluate these matters and make a determination about a reasonable amount to reserve. Accordingly, holders of AVROBIO common stock could lose all or a significant portion of their investment in the event of liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company. A liquidation would be a lengthy and uncertain process with no assurance of any value ever being returned to AVROBIO stockholders.

AVROBIO is substantially dependent on AVROBIO’s remaining employees to facilitate the consummation of the merger.

AVROBIO’s ability to consummate a strategic transaction depends upon its ability to retain its employees required to consummate such a transaction, the loss of whose services may adversely impact the ability to consummate such transaction. In January 2022, and then between July 2023 and February 2024, AVROBIO implemented reductions in force that significantly reduced its workforce in order to conserve its capital resources. As of March 7, 2024, AVROBIO had only 13

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full-time employees. AVROBIO’s ability to successfully complete the merger depends in large part on AVROBIO’s ability to retain certain remaining personnel. Despite AVROBIO’s efforts to retain these employees, one or more may terminate their employment with AVROBIO on short notice. AVROBIO’s cash conservation activities may yield other unintended consequences, such as attrition beyond its planned reduction in workforce and reduced employee morale, which may cause remaining employees to seek alternative employment. The loss of the services of certain employees could potentially harm AVROBIO’s ability to consummate the merger, to run AVROBIO’s day-to-day business operations and to fulfill AVROBIO’s reporting obligations as a public company.

Risks Related to AVROBIO’s Financial Position and Need for Additional Capital in Event the Merger is Not Consummated

AVROBIO has incurred net losses since inception, expects to incur net losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

Since inception, with the exception of the current year, AVROBIO has incurred annual net losses. AVROBIO incurred net income (loss) of $12.2 million and $(105.9) million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. AVROBIO historically financed AVROBIO’s operations primarily through private placements of AVROBIO preferred stock and, more recently, AVROBIO’s initial public offering, or IPO, and follow-on public offerings of AVROBIO common stock, as well as sales of AVROBIO common stock under AVROBIO’s “at-the-market” facility, or the ATM facility. Although AVROBIO had established its ATM facility, as of the filing date of its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, AVROBIO had not made any sales under its ATM facility, and AVROBIO will not make sales under its ATM facility unless and until a new shelf registration statement on Form S-3 is filed and declared effective. In addition, on November 2, 2021, AVROBIO entered into the Loan and Security Agreement, or the Term Loan Agreement, by and among AVROBIO, the lenders party thereto from time to time and Silicon Valley Bank or its successor, Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust company. In May 2023, AVROBIO announced that it had entered into an asset purchase agreement, or the Asset Purchase Agreement, with Novartis Pharma AG and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, collectively referred to herein as Novartis, providing for the sale of AVROBIO’s cystinosis gene therapy program (designated AVR-RD-04) and all other assets of AVROBIO specifically related to this program for an aggregate cash payment of $87.5 million upon closing of the transaction, or the Asset Sale. In June 2023, AVROBIO announced the closing of this transaction, as well as the pay-off of all outstanding amounts due and owed, including principal, interest and other charges, under the Term Loan Agreement and the termination thereof.

AVROBIO has devoted substantially all of AVROBIO’s efforts to research and development, including clinical and preclinical development of AVROBIO’s product candidates, as well as assembling AVROBIO’s team. In July 2023, AVROBIO announced the decision to halt further development of AVROBIO’s programs and to conduct a comprehensive exploration of strategic alternatives, and as such, AVROBIO’s research and development expenses have decreased. Should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO expects that research and development costs would increase significantly, that it would be several years, if ever, before AVROBIO commercializes any product candidates, and that AVROBIO would continue to incur significant expenses and increasing operating losses for the foreseeable future thereafter. AVROBIO also anticipates that its expenses would increase substantially should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates and if, and as, AVROBIO:

resumes clinical enrollment activities, particularly if and as AVROBIO commences and continues clinical-stage activities for AVROBIO’s product candidates;

initiates additional clinical trials and preclinical studies for AVROBIO’s product candidates, if any;

experiences delays or interruptions in preclinical studies, clinical trials, or AVROBIO’s supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic;

seeks to identify and develop or in-license additional product candidates;

seeks marketing approvals for AVROBIO’s product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials, if any;

establishes a sales, marketing and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any product candidates for which AVROBIO may obtain marketing approval;

continues AVROBIO’s implementation of AVROBIO’s plato® platform as AVROBIO seeks to industrialize its HSC gene therapy approach into a robust, scalable and, if approved, commercially viable process;

hires and retains additional personnel, such as clinical, quality control, regulatory and scientific personnel;

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expands AVROBIO’s office space, infrastructure and facilities as needed to accommodate AVROBIO’s employee base, including adding equipment and physical infrastructure to support AVROBIO’s research and development; and

continues to incur additional public company-related costs.

AVROBIO expects to continue to incur costs and expenditures in connection with AVROBIO’s strategic alternatives process. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, to become and remain profitable, it must successfully develop and eventually commercialize product candidates with significant market potential and acceptance. This will require AVROBIO to be successful in a range of challenging activities, and its expenses will increase substantially as AVROBIO seeks to resume, initiate, conduct and complete preclinical and clinical trials of AVROBIO’s product candidates, and manufacture, market and sell these or any future product candidates for which AVROBIO may obtain marketing approval, if any, and satisfy any post-marketing requirements. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may never succeed in any or all of these activities and, even if AVROBIO does, AVROBIO may never generate revenues that are significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If AVROBIO does achieve profitability, AVROBIO may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. AVROBIO’s failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of AVROBIO and could impair their ability to raise capital, maintain their research and development efforts, expand their business or continue operations. A decline in the value of AVROBIO also could cause you to lose all or part of your investment.

In July 2023, AVROBIO announced that it was undertaking a comprehensive exploration of strategic alternatives focused on maximizing stockholder value, and in January 2024 AVROBIO announced its proposed merger with Tectonic. There can be no assurance that the proposed merger with Tectonic, or any other course of action, business arrangement or transaction, or series of transactions, will be pursued, successfully consummated or lead to increased stockholder value. Further, if AVROBIO does not obtain additional funding and/or if a strategic transaction is not completed and are unable to continue as a going concern, AVROBIO may have to liquidate its assets and the values AVROBIO receives for the assets in liquidation or dissolution could be significantly lower than the values reflected in AVROBIO’s consolidated financial statements.

AVROBIO has never generated revenue from product sales and does not expect to do so for the next several years, if ever.

AVROBIO’s ability to generate revenue from product sales and achieve profitability depends on AVROBIO’s ability, alone or with collaborative partners, to successfully resume and complete the development of, and obtain the regulatory approvals necessary to commercialize, AVROBIO’s product candidates. AVROBIO does not anticipate generating revenues from product sales for the next several years, if ever. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO’s ability to generate future revenues from product sales depends heavily on AVROBIO’s success in:

re-initiating and completing research and preclinical and clinical development of AVROBIO’s product candidates;

seeking and obtaining regulatory and marketing approvals for product candidates for which AVROBIO completes clinical trials;

launching and commercializing product candidates for which AVROBIO obtains regulatory and marketing approval by establishing a sales force, marketing and distribution infrastructure or, alternatively, collaborating with a commercialization partner;

qualifying for adequate coverage and reimbursement by government and third-party payors for AVROBIO’s product candidates;

establishing and maintaining supply and manufacturing processes and relationships with third parties that can provide adequate, in both amount and quality, products and services to support clinical development and the commercial market demand for AVROBIO’s product candidates, if approved;

obtaining market acceptance of AVROBIO’s product candidates, if approved, as a viable treatment option;

addressing any competing technological and market developments;

negotiating favorable terms in any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements into which AVROBIO may enter and performing AVROBIO’s obligations under such arrangements; and

attracting, hiring and retaining qualified personnel.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, and one or more of the product candidates that AVROBIO develops is approved for commercial sale, AVROBIO anticipates incurring significant costs associated with commercializing any approved product candidate. AVROBIO’s expenses could increase beyond expectations if AVROBIO

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is required by the FDA, or other foreign regulatory authorities to perform clinical and other studies in addition to those that AVROBIO currently anticipates would be required. Even if AVROBIO is able to generate revenues from the sale of any approved products, AVROBIO may not become profitable and may need to obtain additional funding to continue operations.

If AVROBIO decides to resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO will need additional funding, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed may force AVROBIO to delay, limit or terminate AVROBIO’s product development efforts or other operations.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, particularly if AVROBIO continues the research and development of, initiate further clinical trials of and seek marketing approval for, AVROBIO’s product candidates and continue to enhance and optimize AVROBIO’s vector technology and manufacturing processes, AVROBIO expects its expenses would increase in connection with such activities. In July 2023, AVROBIO announced it was halting further development of its programs. Following such announcement, in September 2023 AVROBIO terminated its agreements with the University of Manchester, or the MPSII License Agreement, for the license and development of a gene therapy for MPSII, or Hunter syndrome, and discontinued AVROBIO’s AVR-RD-05, a Hunter syndrome gene therapy program. Previously, in June 2023, AVROBIO sold its cystinosis gene therapy program to Novartis. AVROBIO currently has a total of three gene therapy product candidates, for Gaucher, Pompe and Fabry diseases, none of which is currently in clinical development. Resumption of the development of these product candidates, if that were to occur, would require AVROBIO to expend significant resources to advance these candidates. In addition, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates and thereafter obtains marketing approval for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO expects to incur significant expenses related to product sales, medical affairs, marketing, manufacturing and distribution. Though AVROBIO has halted further development of its programs to conduct a comprehensive exploration of strategic alternatives and has conducted reductions in force, AVROBIO may incur significant costs in connection with a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, and AVROBIO has incurred, and may in the future incur, significant costs related to this continued evaluation. AVROBIO may also incur additional unanticipated expenses in connection with this process. Furthermore, AVROBIO expects to continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Accordingly, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO will need to obtain substantial additional funding in connection with AVROBIO’s continuing operations. If AVROBIO is unable to raise capital when needed or on reasonable terms, and/or if a strategic transaction is not completed, AVROBIO may have to liquidate its assets. AVROBIO’s future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

AVROBIO’s exploration of strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value, including whether AVROBIO is able to identify and implement any potential strategic alternatives, in a timely manner or at all, whether AVROBIO realizes all or any of the anticipated benefits of any such transaction and whether any such transactions would generate value for stockholders;

should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, the scope, progress, results and costs of drug discovery, laboratory testing, preclinical development and clinical trials for AVROBIO’s product candidates, including the extent of any impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic or similar public health crisis on these activities;

should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, the costs, timing and outcome of regulatory review of AVROBIO’s product candidates;

the costs of future activities, including, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, product sales, medical affairs, marketing, manufacturing and distribution, for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates for which AVROBIO receives marketing approval;

should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates, the costs associated with AVROBIO’s manufacturing process development and evaluation of third-party manufacturers;

revenue, if any, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, received from commercial sale of AVROBIO’s products, should any of AVROBIO’s product candidates receive marketing approval;

the amounts, if any, raised from potential financings and capital raising activities should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates;

the costs of preparing, filing and prosecuting patent applications, maintaining and enforcing AVROBIO’s intellectual property rights and defending intellectual property-related claims;

the costs of defending against and resolving adverse litigation, if any;

the terms of AVROBIO’s current and any future license agreements and collaborations; and

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the extent to which AVROBIO acquires or in-license other product candidates, technologies and intellectual property.

Identifying potential product candidates and conducting preclinical testing and clinical trials is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may never generate the necessary data or results required to obtain marketing approval and achieve product sales. In addition, AVROBIO’s product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. AVROBIO’s product revenues, if any, will be derived from or based on sales of products that may not be commercially available for many years, if at all. Accordingly, AVROBIO will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve AVROBIO’s business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to AVROBIO on acceptable terms, or at all.

Entry into an acquisition, merger, business combination, or other strategic transaction, or raising additional capital may cause dilution to AVROBIO’s existing stockholders, restrict AVROBIO’s operations or cause AVROBIO to relinquish valuable rights.

In July 2023, AVROBIO announced its intention to explore strategic alternatives, including a potential acquisition, merger, business combination, or other strategic transaction, and in January 2024 announced entrance into the Merger Agreement with Tectonic. If the merger with Tectonic is not consummated, the terms of any other strategic transaction that AVROBIO might enter into, if any, could result in the issuance of securities in the company, such as AVROBIO common stock, which could result in significant dilution to AVROBIO stockholders. Additionally, in connection with any other such strategic alternatives, AVROBIO may seek to raise additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings or other financing arrangements. To the extent that AVROBIO enters into any other strategic transaction and/or raises additional capital through the sale of equity, convertible debt securities or other equity-based derivative securities, stockholders’ ownership interest will be diluted and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect rights of stockholders. Any indebtedness AVROBIO incurs would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on AVROBIO’s ability to incur additional debt, limitations on AVROBIO’s ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact AVROBIO’s ability to conduct AVROBIO’s business. Furthermore, the issuance of additional securities, whether equity or debt, by AVROBIO, or the possibility of such issuance, may cause the market price of AVROBIO common stock to decline and existing stockholders may not agree with AVROBIO’s strategic or financing plans or the terms of such strategic transaction or financings. If AVROBIO raises additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, AVROBIO may have to relinquish valuable rights to AVROBIO’s technologies, or AVROBIO’s product candidates, or grant licenses on terms unfavorable to AVROBIO. Adequate additional financing may not be available to AVROBIO on acceptable terms, or at all.

AVROBIO’s limited operating history may make it difficult to evaluate the success of AVROBIO’s business to date and to assess AVROBIO’s future viability.

AVROBIO was founded in November 2015. AVROBIO’s operations to date have been limited to corporate organization, recruiting key personnel, business planning, raising capital, acquiring rights to AVROBIO’s technology, identifying potential product candidates, undertaking preclinical studies and planning and supporting clinical trials of certain of AVROBIO’s product candidates and establishing research and development and manufacturing capabilities. AVROBIO has not yet demonstrated the ability to complete clinical trials of AVROBIO’s product candidates, obtain marketing approvals, manufacture products on a commercial scale or conduct sales and marketing activities necessary for successful commercialization. Consequently, any predictions you make about AVROBIO’s future success or viability, should AVROBIO resume development of its programs, may not be as accurate as they could be if AVROBIO had a longer operating history. In addition, as an early-stage company, AVROBIO may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors.

Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults, or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect AVROBIO’s current and projected business operations and its financial condition and results of operations.

Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. Uncertainty remains over liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry, and if any of AVROBIO’s contract organizations, vendors, suppliers or other parties with whom AVROBIO conducts business are unable to access funds pursuant to their own arrangements with such a financial institution, such party’s ability to perform their obligations could be adversely affected. Similar impacts have occurred in the past, such as during the 2008-2010 financial crisis.

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Inflation and rapid increases in interest rates have led to a decline in the trading value of previously issued government securities with interest rates below current market interest rates. Although the U.S. Department of Treasury, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC, and Federal Reserve Board have announced a program to provide up to $25 billion of loans to financial institutions secured by certain of such government securities held by financial institutions to mitigate the risk of potential losses on the sale of such instruments, widespread demands for customer withdrawals or other liquidity needs of financial institutions for immediately liquidity may exceed the capacity of such program. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the U.S. Department of Treasury, FDIC and Federal Reserve Board will provide access to uninsured funds in the future in the event of the closure of other banks or financial institutions, or that they would do so in a timely fashion.

Although AVROBIO assesses its banking relationships as AVROBIO believes necessary or appropriate, AVROBIO’s access to funding sources and other credit arrangements in amounts adequate to finance or capitalize AVROBIO’s current and projected future business operations could be significantly impaired by factors that affect AVROBIO’s company, the financial institutions with which AVROBIO has credit agreements or arrangements directly, or the financial services industry or economy in general. These factors could include, among others, events such as liquidity constraints or failures, the ability to perform obligations under various types of financial, credit or liquidity agreements or arrangements, disruptions or instability in the financial services industry or financial markets, or concerns or negative expectations about the prospects for companies in the financial services industry. These factors could involve financial institutions or financial services industry companies with which AVROBIO has financial or business relationships, but could also include factors involving financial markets or the financial services industry generally. The results of events or concerns that involve one or more of these factors could include a variety of material and adverse impacts on AVROBIO’s current and projected business operations and AVROBIO’s financial condition and results of operations. These could include, but may not be limited to, the following:

Delayed access to deposits or other financial assets or the uninsured loss of deposits or other financial assets;

Delayed or lost access to, or reductions in borrowings available under revolving existing credit facilities or other working capital sources and/or delays, inability or reductions in the company’s ability to refund, roll over or extend the maturity of, or enter into new credit facilities or other working capital resources;

Potential or actual breach of contractual obligations that require AVROBIO to maintain letters of credit or other credit support arrangements;

Potential or actual breach of financial covenants in AVROBIO’s credit agreements or credit arrangements;

Potential or actual cross-defaults in other credit agreements, credit arrangements or operating or financing agreements; or

Termination of cash management arrangements and/or delays in accessing or actual loss of funds subject to cash management arrangements.

In addition, investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for AVROBIO to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any decline in available funding or access to AVROBIO’s cash and liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact AVROBIO’s ability to meet AVROBIO’s operating expenses, financial obligations or fulfill AVROBIO’s other obligations, result in breaches of AVROBIO’s financial and/or contractual obligations or result in violations of federal or state wage and hour laws. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting from the factors described above or other related or similar factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts on AVROBIO’s liquidity and AVROBIO’s current and/or projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, any further deterioration in the macroeconomic economy or financial services industry could lead to losses or defaults by AVROBIO’s contract organizations, vendors, suppliers or other parties with whom AVROBIO conducts business, which in turn, could have a material adverse effect on AVROBIO’s current and/or projected business operations and results of operations and financial condition. For example, contract organizations, vendors, suppliers or other parties with whom AVROBIO conducts business could be adversely affected by any of the liquidity or other risks that are described above as factors that could result in material adverse impacts on AVROBIO’s company, including but not limited to delayed access or loss of access to uninsured deposits or loss of the ability to draw on existing credit facilities involving a troubled or failed financial institution. Any bankruptcy or insolvency involving AVROBIO’s contract organizations, vendors, suppliers

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or other parties with whom AVROBIO conducts business, or any breach or default by such parties, or the loss of any significant relationships with such parties, could result in a material adverse impact on AVROBIO’s business.

Risks Related to AVROBIO’s Business if Merger is Not Consummated

AVROBIO may not be successful in completing the merger, and any strategic transactions that it may consummate in the future could have negative consequences.

AVROBIO is exploring strategic transactions regarding any product candidates and related assets, including, without limitation, licensing transactions and asset sales. There can be no assurance that AVROBIO will be able to successfully consummate the merger or that the merger will be completed on attractive terms, within the anticipated timing, or at all. The process of continuing to evaluate these strategic options may be very costly, time-consuming and complex and AVROBIO has incurred, and may in the future incur, significant costs related to this continued evaluation, such as legal and accounting fees and expenses and other related charges. AVROBIO may also incur additional unanticipated expenses in connection with this process. A considerable portion of these costs will be incurred regardless of whether any such course of action is implemented or transaction is completed. Any such expenses will decrease the remaining cash available for use in its business.

In addition, any strategic business combination or other transactions that AVROBIO may consummate in the future could have a variety of negative consequences and it may implement a course of action or consummate a transaction that yields unexpected results that adversely affects its business and decreases the remaining cash available for use in its business or the execution of its strategic plan. There can be no assurances that any particular course of action, business arrangement or transaction, or series of transactions, will be pursued, successfully consummated, lead to increased stockholder value or achieve the anticipated results. Any potential transaction would be dependent on a number of factors that may be beyond its control, including, among other things, market conditions, industry trends, the interest of third parties in a potential transaction with AVROBIO, obtaining stockholder approval and the availability of financing to third parties in a potential transaction with AVROBIO on reasonable terms. Any failure of such a potential transaction to achieve the anticipated results could significantly impair its ability to enter into any future strategic transactions and may significantly diminish or delay any future distributions to its stockholders.

If AVROBIO is not successful in setting forth a new strategic path for AVROBIO, or if its plans are not executed in a timely fashion, this may cause reputational harm with its stockholders and the value of its securities may be adversely impacted. In addition, speculation regarding any developments related to the review of strategic alternatives and perceived uncertainties related to the future of AVROBIO could cause its stock price to fluctuate significantly.

If AVROBIO is successful in completing the merger, it may be exposed to other operational and financial risks.

Although there can be no assurance that the merger will be completed, the negotiation and consummation of the merger has required and will continue to require significant time on the part of its management, and the diversion of management’s attention may disrupt its business.

The negotiation and consummation of the merger may also require more time or greater cash resources than AVROBIO anticipates and exposes AVROBIO to other operational and financial risks, including:

increased near-term and long-term expenditures;

exposure to unknown liabilities;

higher than expected acquisition or integration costs;

incurrence of substantial debt or dilutive issuances of equity securities to fund future operations;

write-downs of assets or goodwill or incurrence of non-recurring, impairment or other charges;

increased amortization expenses;

difficulty and cost in combining the operations and personnel of any acquired business with its operations and personnel;

impairment of relationships with key suppliers or customers of any acquired business due to changes in management and ownership;

inability to retain key employees of AVROBIO or any acquired business; and

possibility of future litigation.

Any of the foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and prospects.

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AVROBIO’s corporate restructuring and the associated reduction in workforce may not result in anticipated savings, could result in total costs and expenses that are greater than expected and could disrupt its business.

In January 2022, and then between July 2023 and February 2024, AVROBIO implemented reductions in force that significantly reduced its workforce in order to conserve its capital expenditures. AVROBIO may not realize, in full or in part, the anticipated benefits, savings and improvements in its cost structure from its restructuring efforts due to unforeseen difficulties, delays or unexpected costs. If AVROBIO is unable to realize the expected operational efficiencies and cost savings from the restructuring, its operating results and financial condition will be adversely affected. Furthermore, its restructuring plan may be disruptive to its operations. For example, its headcount reductions could yield unanticipated consequences, such as increased difficulties in implementing its business strategy, including retention of its remaining employees. Employee litigation related to the headcount reduction could be costly and prevent management from fully concentrating on the business.

Any future growth of AVROBIO’s business would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management, including the need to identify, recruit, maintain and integrate additional employees. Due to its limited resources, AVROBIO may not be able to effectively manage its operations or recruit and retain qualified personnel, which may result in weaknesses in its infrastructure and operations, risks that AVROBIO may not be able to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, loss of employees and reduced productivity among remaining employees.

The impact and results of AVROBIO’s ongoing strategic process are uncertain and may not be successful.

The AVROBIO Board remains dedicated to diligent deliberations and the making of informed decisions that the directors believe are in the best interests of the company and its stockholders. There can be no assurance, however, that the company’s current strategic direction, or the AVROBIO Board’s evaluation of strategic alternatives, will result in any initiatives, agreements, transactions or plans that will further enhance stockholder value.

In addition, given the substantial restructuring of AVROBIO’s operations over the past several years, it may be difficult to evaluate its current business and future prospects on the basis of historical operating performance.

Risks Related to the Discovery and Development of AVROBIO’s Product Candidates

Business interruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or similar public health crises have caused and may in the future cause a disruption of the development of AVROBIO’s product candidates and adversely impact AVROBIO’s business.

Public health crises such as pandemics, epidemics, or any outbreak of an infectious disease or similar public health crises could adversely impact AVROBIO’s business. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal business operations both in and outside of affected areas and has had significant negative impacts on businesses and financial markets worldwide. While AVROBIO currently has no ongoing clinical development activities following AVROBIO’s decision to halt its clinical development programs while AVROBIO considers strategic alternatives, AVROBIO continues to monitor AVROBIO’s operations and follow applicable government recommendations, and the majority of AVROBIO’s employees have adopted a “hybrid” work schedule which generally limits the number of people in AVROBIO’s office at any particular time. Notwithstanding these measures, the COVID-19 pandemic, including potential outbreaks of new variants, or any other public health crisis could affect the health and availability of AVROBIO’s workforce as well as those of the third parties on which AVROBIO relies. If members of AVROBIO’s management and other key personnel are unable to perform their duties or have limited availability due to any outbreak of an infectious disease or similar public health crises, AVROBIO may not be able to execute on AVROBIO’s business strategy and/or AVROBIO’s operations may be negatively impacted.

In addition, clinical trial activities, should AVROBIO resume any such activities, including patient enrollment and data collection, are dependent upon global clinical trial sites which were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, as the global healthcare community responded to the fluctuations in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, many hospitals, including AVROBIO’s clinical sites, temporarily paused elective procedures, which included dosing of new patients with AVROBIO’s investigational gene therapies. While AVROBIO substantially resumed data collection and dosing of new patients until halting AVROBIO’s development programs in July 2023, AVROBIO’s ability to continue clinical activities without further delay or interruption, should AVROBIO resume development of its programs, will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted.

Additional factors from any public health crisis that may delay or otherwise adversely affect enrollment in or the progress of the clinical trials of AVROBIO’s product candidates if AVROBIO resumes development of its programs, as well as AVROBIO’s business generally, include:

the potential diversion of healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials to focus on pandemic concerns, including the attention of physicians serving as AVROBIO’s clinical trial investigators, hospitals serving as AVROBIO’s clinical trial sites and hospital staff supporting the conduct of AVROBIO’s clinical trials;

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limitations on travel that could interrupt key trial activities, such as clinical trial site initiations and monitoring, domestic and international travel by employees, contractors or patients to clinical trial sites, including any government-imposed travel restrictions or quarantines that may impact the ability or willingness of patients, employees or contractors to travel to AVROBIO’s clinical trial sites or secure visas or entry permissions, any of which could delay or adversely impact the conduct or progress of AVROBIO’s clinical trials;

interruption in global shipping affecting the transport of clinical trial materials, such as patient samples, investigational drug product and conditioning drugs and other supplies used in AVROBIO’s clinical trials;

business disruptions caused by workplace, laboratory and office closures and an increased reliance on employees working from home, disruptions to or delays in ongoing laboratory experiments and operations, staffing shortages, travel limitations or mass transit disruptions, any of which could adversely impact AVROBIO’s business operations or those of third party service providers, contractors, or suppliers on whom AVROBIO relies, impair the productivity of AVROBIO’s personnel, subject AVROBIO to additional cybersecurity risks, create data accessibility problems, cause AVROBIO to become more susceptible to communication disruptions, or delay necessary interactions with local regulators, ethics committees and other important agencies and contractors;

business disruptions involving AVROBIO’s third parties on whom AVROBIO relies, including contract research organizations, or CROs, and other collaborators for the conduct of AVROBIO’s clinical trials or AVROBIO’s third party suppliers or manufacturers, which could impact their ability to perform adequately or disrupt AVROBIO’s supply chain; and

changes in hospital or research institution policies or government regulations, which could delay or adversely impact AVROBIO’s ability to conduct AVROBIO’s clinical trials.

These and other factors arising from the public health crises could reemerge or worsen and adversely impact AVROBIO’s ability to conduct clinical trials and AVROBIO’s business generally, and could have a material adverse impact on AVROBIO’s operations and financial condition and results. The extent to which any public health crisis impacts AVROBIO’s operations or those of AVROBIO’s third party partners will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the public health crisis, the efficacy and safety of vaccines, including against emerging variants, the ability of third parties to manufacture and distribute vaccines, among others.

AVROBIO’s HSC lentiviral-based gene therapy product candidates are based on a novel technology, which makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of product candidate development and of subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates.

AVROBIO has concentrated AVROBIO’s research and development efforts on AVROBIO’s HSC gene therapy approach, and should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates AVROBIO’s future success would depend on AVROBIO’s successful development of viable gene therapy product candidates. There can be no assurance that AVROBIO will not experience problems or delays in developing new product candidates, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, and that such problems or delays will not cause unanticipated costs, or that any such development problems can be solved. For example, timely enrollment in AVROBIO’s clinical trials is dependent upon global clinical trial sites which were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, AVROBIO may also experience delays in developing a sustainable, reproducible and scalable manufacturing process or transferring that process to commercial, additional or alternative partners, which should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates may prevent AVROBIO from completing clinical studies or commercializing AVROBIO’s products on a timely or profitable basis, if at all. For example, as of July 12, 2023, the date on which AVROBIO announced that AVROBIO was halting all further development activities in AVROBIO’s programs, AVROBIO had dosed 11 patients using AVROBIO’s plato platform, including six patients in AVROBIO’s FAB-GT clinical trial (for which AVROBIO previously halted enrollment) and five patients in AVROBIO’s Guard1 clinical trial. AVROBIO’s implementation of the LV2 lentiviral vector or of AVROBIO’s cell processing to an industrialized, automated closed system using disposable supplies may not be successful or may experience unforeseen delays, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, which may cause shortages or delays in the supply of AVROBIO’s products available for clinical trials and future commercial sales, if any, or impair AVROBIO’s research and development efforts, including those in any future clinical trials. In addition, there is no assurance that products using AVROBIO’s proprietary LV2 lentiviral vector or manufactured using this automated system will ultimately achieve the same favorable preliminary results observed to date. Furthermore, the FDA generally prefers that clinical trials be double-blinded and potentially include sham controls. Such a trial design could be challenging to implement due to the nature of the treatment regimen of HSC gene therapy.

In addition, the clinical trial requirements of the FDA and other foreign regulatory authorities and the criteria these regulators use to determine the safety and efficacy of a product candidate vary substantially according to the type,

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complexity, novelty and intended use and market of such product candidates. The regulatory approval process for novel product candidates such as AVROBIO’s can be more expensive and take longer than for other, better known or more extensively studied product candidates. To date, only a limited number of HSC gene therapies have received marketing authorization from the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, it is difficult to determine how long it would take or how much it would cost to obtain regulatory approvals for those product candidates in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan or other major markets or how long it would take to commercialize those product candidates, if any were to be approved. Approvals by foreign regulatory authorities may not be indicative of what the FDA may require for approval, and vice versa.

Gene therapy clinical trials conducted at institutions that receive funding for recombinant DNA research from the NIH also are subject to the NIH Guidelines, under which supervision of human gene transfer trials includes evaluation and assessment by an institutional biosafety committee, or the IBC, a local institutional committee that reviews and oversees research utilizing recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules at that institution. Before a clinical trial can begin at any institution, its IRB and its IBC assesses the safety of the research and identifies any potential risk to public health or the environment. While the NIH guidelines are not mandatory unless the research in question is being conducted at or sponsored by institutions receiving NIH funding of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecule research, many companies and other institutions not otherwise subject to the NIH Guidelines voluntarily follow them. Although the FDA decides whether individual gene therapy protocols may proceed, the review process and determinations of other reviewing bodies can impede or delay the initiation of a clinical trial, even if the FDA has reviewed the trial and approved its initiation. In addition, adverse developments in clinical trials of gene therapy products conducted by others may cause the FDA or other oversight bodies to change the requirements for approval of any of AVROBIO’s product candidates should AVROBIO resume their development. Similarly, foreign regulatory authorities may issue new guidelines concerning the development and marketing authorization for gene therapy medicinal products and require that AVROBIO complies with these new guidelines.

The FDA, NIH and the EMA have each expressed interest in further regulating biotechnology, including gene therapy and genetic testing. For example, the EMA advocates a risk-based approach to the development of a gene therapy product. Agencies at both the federal and state level in the United States, as well as the U.S. congressional committees and other governments or governing agencies, have also expressed interest in further regulating the biotechnology industry. For example, in 2016, the FDA established the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies, or the OTAT, within the CBER to consolidate the review of gene therapy and related products, and to advise the CBER on its review. In September 2022, the FDA announced retitling of OTAT to the Office of Therapeutic Products, or the OTP, and elevation of OTP to a “Super Office” to meet its growing cell and gene therapy workload. Although FDA has indicated that this change of name and responsibilities is intended to, among other things, increase review capabilities and enhance expertise on new cell and gene therapies, AVROBIO cannot be certain that this approach will improve the time and cost associated with navigating gene therapy regulatory requirements, AVROBIO’s regulatory strategy or the potential success of AVROBIO’s product candidates. Such regulatory action and developments could, instead, delay, impede or even prevent commercialization of some or all of AVROBIO’s product candidates.

These regulatory review committees and advisory groups and any new guidelines they promulgate may lengthen the regulatory review process, require AVROBIO to perform additional studies, increase AVROBIO’s development costs, lead to changes in regulatory positions and interpretations, delay or prevent approval and commercialization of these product candidates or lead to significant post-approval limitations or restrictions. Should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO will be required to consult with these regulatory and advisory groups, and comply with applicable guidelines. If AVROBIO fails to do so, AVROBIO may be required to delay or discontinue development of certain of those product candidates. These additional processes may result in a review and approval process that is longer than AVROBIO otherwise would have expected. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, the delay or failure to obtain, or unexpected costs in obtaining, the regulatory approval necessary to bring a potential product to market could decrease AVROBIO’s ability to generate sufficient product revenue, and AVROBIO’s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

The FDA continues to develop its guidance for assessing gene and cell therapy products. For example, the agency has released a series of draft and final guidance documents relating to, among other topics, various aspects of gene therapy product development, review, and approval, including aspects relating to clinical and manufacturing issues related to gene therapy products. In January 2020, the FDA released a final guidance with recommendations for long-term follow-up studies of patients following human gene therapy administration due to the increased risk of undesirable and unpredictable outcomes with gene therapies that may present as delayed adverse events. Foreign regulatory agencies also may have requirements for long term follow-up studies of patients following human gene therapy administration.

AVROBIO’s product candidates and the process for administering AVROBIO’s product candidates may cause undesirable side effects or have other properties that, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates,

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could delay or prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential or result in significant negative consequences following any potential marketing approval.

During the conduct of clinical trials, patients may experience changes in their health, including illnesses, injuries, discomforts or a fatal outcome. It is possible that as AVROBIO tests AVROBIO’s product candidates in larger, longer and more extensive clinical programs, or as use of AVROBIO’s product candidates becomes more widespread if they receive regulatory approval, illnesses, injuries, discomforts and other adverse events that were observed in earlier clinical trials, as well as conditions that did not occur or went undetected in previous clinical trials, will be reported by patients. Additionally, any early access to AVROBIO’s investigational therapies, such as through expanded or Right to Try access or compassionate use, may lead to discovery of undesirable side effects, or other negative consequences that could have adverse impacts on AVROBIO’s development programs for AVROBIO’s product candidates. Gene therapies are also subject to the potential risk that occurrence of adverse events will be delayed following administration of the gene therapy due to persistent biological activity of the genetic material or other components of the vectors used to carry the genetic material. Many times, side effects are only detectable after investigational products are tested in larger scale, pivotal clinical trials or, in some cases, after they are made available to patients on a commercial scale after approval. FDA guidance advises that patients treated with gene therapies undergo long-term follow-up observation for potential adverse events for as long as 15 years, unless otherwise agreed by the FDA. If additional clinical or long-term follow-up experience indicates that any of AVROBIO’s product candidates have side effects or cause serious or life-threatening side effects, AVROBIO may be unable to resume its development programs and any further development of the product candidate may ultimately fail or be delayed.

Gene therapy is still a relatively new approach to disease treatment and adverse side effects could develop. A safety concern for gene therapies using lentiviral vectors has been the possibility of insertional oncogenesis, leading to malignant transformation of transduced cells and cellular outgrowth. As more patients are dosed with HSC gene therapies, it is expected that very rare cases of insertional oncogenesis may occur. For example, several patients with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy treated in a third-party lentiviral gene therapy clinical trial have been diagnosed with treatment-related myelodysplastic syndrome to date. In addition, persistent clonal dominance due to vector integration has been observed in third-party HSC gene therapy clinical trials. While AVROBIO’s HSC gene therapy approach has been designed to avoid insertional oncogenesis, there can be no assurance that patients will not experience such adverse effects, including death. Should AVROBIO resume development of its gene therapy product candidates and any of those product candidates demonstrates adverse side effects at unacceptable rates or degrees of severity, AVROBIO may decide or be required to halt or delay clinical development of such product candidates.

In addition to side effects caused by AVROBIO’s product candidates, the conditioning, administration process or related procedures, also can cause adverse side effects. A gene therapy patient is generally administered one or more myeloablative drugs to remove stem cells from the bone marrow to create sufficient space in the bone marrow for the modified gene-corrected stem cells to engraft and produce their progeny. This procedure causes side effects and, among other potential risks, can transiently compromise the patient’s immune system, known as neutropenia, and reduce blood clotting, known as thrombocytopenia.

In 2019, AVROBIO began transitioning, in connection with AVROBIO-sponsored clinical trials, towards a new conditioning regimen for AVROBIO’s product candidates utilizing busulfan as the myeloablative conditioning agent instead of the melphalan that AVROBIO previously used. The use of this conditioning regimen AVROBIO designed to utilize a precision dosing program to achieve a balance between the removal of a sufficient amount of bone marrow cells from a patient to aid engraftment of AVROBIO’s genetically modified cells against potential risks, such as toxicity or graft failure. AVROBIO’s conditioning regimens may not be successful or may nevertheless result in adverse side effects. For example, busulfan, the myeloablative agent most recently used in AVROBIO’s conditioning regimen, has been known to carry certain safety risks, including the risk of impairment to fertility in both men and women, and such impairment has been reported in some patients in AVROBIO’s clinical trials. Moreover, in each of AVROBIO’s previous clinical trials several adverse events, including suppression of neutrophils and platelet counts following the conditioning process, have been observed. While such adverse events in connection with conditioning are expected, if in the future any such adverse events caused by the conditioning process or related procedures continue at unexpected rates or degrees of severity, the FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities could order the cessation of development of, or deny approval of, product candidates for any or all targeted indications. There have been cases of therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome, a type of blood disorder that is a potential precursor to acute myeloid leukemia, in patients with preexisting cancer where busulfan treatment was posited to be a contributing factor to this secondary malignancy. Even if AVROBIO is able to demonstrate that adverse events are not product-related, such occurrences could adversely affect patient recruitment (should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates) or the ability of enrolled patients to complete the clinical trial, and lead to a decline in AVROBIO’s stock price.

Additionally, if AVROBIO resume development of its programs and any of AVROBIO’s product candidates receives marketing approval, the FDA could require AVROBIO to adopt a REMS to ensure that the benefits outweigh its risks, which

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may include, among other things, a medication guide outlining the risks of the product for distribution to patients, a communication plan to health care practitioners, and restrictions on how or where the product can be distributed, dispensed or used. Furthermore, if AVROBIO or others later identify undesirable side effects caused by AVROBIO’s product candidates, several potentially significant negative consequences could result, including:

regulatory authorities may suspend or withdraw approvals of such product candidate;

regulatory authorities may require additional or boxed warnings on the label;

AVROBIO may be required to change the way a product candidate is distributed, dispensed, or administered or conduct additional clinical trials;

AVROBIO could be sued and held liable for harm caused to patients; and

AVROBIO’s reputation may suffer.

Any of these events could prevent AVROBIO from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of AVROBIO’s product candidates, lead to a decline in AVROBIO’s stock price, and significantly harm AVROBIO’s business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

AVROBIO has never completed a pivotal or registrational clinical trial, and may be unable to do so for any product candidates AVROBIO may develop, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates.

AVROBIO is at an early stage of development for all of AVROBIO’s product candidates, and has currently halted further development of AVROBIO’s programs. Twenty-five patients were dosed in AVROBIO’s clinical trials, which includes 14 patients from AVROBIO’s Fabry program that AVROBIO deprioritized in January 2022, six patients in AVROBIO’s cystinosis program that AVROBIO sold to Novartis in June 2023, and five patients in AVROBIO’s Gaucher disease type 1 program. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, further clinical trials must be completed in order to obtain FDA or other regulatory approval to market these product candidates. AVROBIO has limited experience in preparing, submitting and prosecuting regulatory filings, and has not previously submitted a BLA for any product candidate. Carrying out later-stage clinical trials is a complicated and lengthy process, and AVROBIO does not expect that all data from patients participating in the clinical trials will be relevant or meaningful.

In addition, across AVROBIO-sponsored clinical trials AVROBIO has dosed only four patients in the United States, and AVROBIO’s interactions with the FDA have generally been limited. AVROBIO cannot be certain how many additional clinical trials of any of AVROBIO’s product candidates would be required or how such trials should be designed, should AVROBIO resume development of its programs. In order to commence a clinical trial in the United States, AVROBIO is required to seek FDA acceptance of an IND for each of AVROBIO’s product candidates. AVROBIO cannot be sure any IND AVROBIO submits to the FDA, or any similar CTA AVROBIO submits in other countries, will be accepted. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, there can be no assurance that AVROBIO would be able to submit and secure similar clearances for any of AVROBIO’s other product candidates. AVROBIO may also be required to conduct additional preclinical testing prior to filing an IND for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates, and the results of any such testing may not be positive. Consequently, AVROBIO may be unable to successfully and efficiently execute and complete necessary clinical trials in a way that leads to a BLA submission and approval of any of AVROBIO’s product candidates. AVROBIO may require more time and incur greater costs than AVROBIO’s competitors and may not succeed in obtaining regulatory approvals of product candidates that AVROBIO develops. Failure to commence or complete, or delays in, the necessary clinical trials, could prevent AVROBIO from or delay AVROBIO in commercializing any of AVROBIO’s product candidates.

Success in preclinical studies or early clinical trials may not be indicative of results obtained in later trials, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates.

Results from preclinical studies or early clinical trials are not necessarily predictive of future clinical trial results and are not necessarily indicative of final results. There can be no assurance that prior results, such as signals of safety, activity or durability of effect, observed from preclinical studies or clinical trials will be replicated or will continue in ongoing or future studies or trials, should AVROBIO resume development of any of its programs. Furthermore, preliminary results may not be indicative of the final results of a trial after all data have been collected and analyzed. For example, in January 2022 AVROBIO announced the deprioritization of AVROBIO’s Fabry program due to several factors, including new clinical data showing variable engraftment patterns from the five most recently dosed Phase 2 FAB-GT patients. Although previously reported data from 13 patients treated across AVROBIO’s clinical-stage programs had shown durable engraftment out 9 to 54 months, the new data from the five most recently dosed Phase 2 FAB-GT patients were discordant with these other data and showed variable engraftment. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, there can be no assurance

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that similar engraftment or other issues will not occur in clinical trials of AVROBIO’s other product candidates, which are all based on AVROBIO’s technology and the same HSC approach utilized for AVR-RD-01.

There is a high failure rate for gene therapy and biologic product candidates proceeding through clinical trials. Many companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries have suffered significant setbacks in late-stage clinical trials even after achieving promising results in preclinical testing and earlier-stage clinical trials. Data obtained from preclinical and clinical activities are subject to varying interpretations, which may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. In addition, the design of a pivotal clinical trial can determine whether its results will support approval of a product and flaws in the design of a clinical trial may not become apparent until the clinical trial is well advanced. AVROBIO has limited experience in designing and conducting clinical trials and AVROBIO may be unable to design and execute a clinical trial to support regulatory approval, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates.

AVROBIO also may experience regulatory delays or rejections as a result of many factors, including due to changes in regulatory policy or the approval of competitive therapies during the period of AVROBIO’s product candidate development. Should AVROBIO resume development of any of AVROBIO’s product candidates, those product candidates may fail to show the desired safety and efficacy in clinical development despite positive results in preclinical studies. Any such failure would cause AVROBIO to abandon the product candidate.

Additionally, the clinical trials performed to date have been open-label studies and have been conducted at a limited number of clinical sites on a limited number of patients. An “open-label” clinical trial is one where both the patient and investigator know whether the patient is receiving the investigational product candidate or either an existing approved drug or placebo. Most typically, open-label clinical trials test only the investigational product candidate and sometimes may do so at different dose levels. Open-label clinical trials are subject to various limitations that may exaggerate any therapeutic effect as patients in open-label clinical trials are aware when they are receiving treatment. Open-label clinical trials may be subject to a “patient bias” where patients perceive their symptoms to have improved merely due to their awareness of receiving an experimental treatment. Moreover, patients selected for early clinical studies often include the most severe sufferers and their symptoms may have been bound to improve notwithstanding the new treatment. In addition, open-label clinical trials may be subject to an “investigator bias” where those assessing and reviewing the physiological outcomes of the clinical trials are aware that patients have received treatment and may interpret the information more favorably given this knowledge. As is typical in open-label studies in which interim reports are provided, the safety and efficacy data are regularly reviewed and validated. As a result, certain data may change over time, including reductions or increases in the number of reported safety events, as well as the characterization of the severity or relatedness of safety events, until the database is locked at the end of the study.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may find it difficult to enroll patients in AVROBIO’s clinical trials, which could delay or prevent AVROBIO from proceeding with clinical trials of AVROBIO’s product candidates.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, the timing and success of AVROBIO’s patient enrollment and clinical trial activities would depend on AVROBIO’s ability to recruit patients to participate as well as the completion of required follow-up periods. Patients may be unwilling to participate in AVROBIO’s gene therapy clinical trials because of negative publicity from adverse events related to the biotechnology or gene therapy fields, competitive clinical trials for similar patient populations, clinical trials in product candidates employing AVROBIO’s vectors, the existence of current treatments or for other reasons. In addition, the indications that AVROBIO has targeted and may in the future target are rare diseases, which may limit the pool of patients that may be enrolled in AVROBIO’s clinical trials. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, the timeline for recruiting patients, conducting studies and obtaining regulatory approval of AVROBIO’s product candidates may be delayed, which could result in increased costs, delays in advancing AVROBIO’s product candidates, delays in testing the effectiveness of AVROBIO’s product candidates or termination of the clinical trials altogether. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may not be able to identify, recruit and enroll a sufficient number of patients, or those with required or desired characteristics, to complete AVROBIO’s clinical trials in a timely manner or at all. There can be no assurance AVROBIO will achieve that goal or any of AVROBIO’s other patient enrollment goals should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates.

Patient enrollment and trial completion is affected by factors including the:

size of the patient population and process for identifying patients;

design of the trial protocol;

eligibility and exclusion criteria;

perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;

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perceived risks and benefits of gene therapy-based approaches to treatment of diseases, including any required pretreatment conditioning regimens;

availability of competing therapies and clinical trials;

severity of the disease under investigation;

availability of genetic testing for potential patients;

proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective patients;

ability to obtain and maintain subject consent;

risk that enrolled patients will drop out before completion of the trial;

patient referral practices of physicians; and

ability to monitor patients adequately during and after treatment.

AVROBIO historically expanded AVROBIO’s patient enrollment activities to include patients who reside in a country other than the country where the applicable clinical site is located, and who are required to travel for some or all of the clinical testing and procedures required for patients in the applicable clinical trial. AVROBIO has encountered and, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, in the future may continue to encounter logistical and regulatory challenges that could delay or prevent any such international patients from successfully enrolling and completing clinical trial procedures, including delays in processing or obtaining patient travel visas or denials of entry at borders, potential travel disruptions, or de-prioritization or unavailability of resources at clinical sites for non-resident international clinical trial participants, any of which could delay AVROBIO’s progress and completion of planned clinical trials and which would have an adverse effect on AVROBIO’s business. In addition, once these international patients return to their home country, they may need to travel back to the country where the applicable clinical site is located. If these patients are unwilling or unable to return to the clinical site for testing and procedures, progress and completion of the clinical trial could be delayed or prevented.

AVROBIO’s product candidates were being developed to treat rare conditions. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO would expect to seek initial marketing approvals in the United States, Europe and certain other major markets, including Japan. However, AVROBIO may not be able to resume, initiate or continue clinical trials if AVROBIO cannot enroll a sufficient number of eligible patients to participate in the clinical trials required by FDA or other foreign regulatory authorities. AVROBIO’s ability to successfully resume, initiate, enroll and complete a clinical trial in any foreign country is subject to numerous risks unique to conducting business in foreign countries, including:

difficulty in establishing or managing relationships with CROs clinical study sites and physicians;

different standards for the conduct of clinical trials;

the absence in some countries of established groups with sufficient regulatory expertise for review of gene therapy protocols;

AVROBIO’s inability to locate qualified local consultants, physicians and partners; and

the potential burden of complying with a variety of foreign laws, medical standards and regulatory requirements, including the regulation of pharmaceutical and biotechnology products and treatment.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates and if AVROBIO has difficulty enrolling a sufficient number of patients to conduct AVROBIO’s clinical trials, AVROBIO may need to delay, limit or terminate the resumption or continuation of clinical trials, any of which would have an adverse effect on AVROBIO’s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may encounter substantial delays in resuming its clinical trials or AVROBIO may fail to demonstrate safety and efficacy to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory authorities.

Before obtaining marketing approval from regulatory authorities for the sale of AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO must conduct extensive clinical studies to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the product candidates in humans. Clinical testing is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain as to outcome. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO cannot guarantee that any clinical studies will be conducted as planned or completed on schedule, if at all. A failure of one or more clinical studies can occur at any stage of testing. Events that may prevent

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successful or timely completion of clinical development, should AVROBIO resume any clinical development programs, include:

delays in reaching a consensus with regulatory agencies on study design;

delays in reaching agreement on acceptable terms with prospective CROs and clinical study sites;

delays in obtaining required IRB approval at each clinical study site;

delays in recruiting suitable patients to participate in AVROBIO’s clinical studies;

imposition of a clinical hold by regulatory agencies, after an inspection of AVROBIO’s clinical study operations or study sites;

failure by AVROBIO’s CROs, other third parties or AVROBIO to adhere to clinical study requirements;

failure to perform in accordance with the FDA’s GCP or applicable regulatory guidelines in other countries;

delays in the testing, validation, manufacturing and delivery of AVROBIO’s product candidates to the clinical sites;

delays in having patients complete participation in a study or return for post-treatment follow-up;

clinical study sites or patients dropping out of a study;

the occurrence of serious adverse events associated with the product candidate that are viewed to outweigh its potential benefits; or

changes in regulatory requirements and guidance that require amending or submitting new clinical protocols.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, any inability to successfully complete preclinical and clinical development could result in additional costs to AVROBIO or impair AVROBIO’s ability to generate revenues. In addition, if AVROBIO makes changes to AVROBIO’s product candidates, or if collaborator-sponsored trials utilize different materials or manufacturing processes from AVROBIO’s to generate data, AVROBIO may need to conduct additional studies to compare or bridge AVROBIO’s modified product candidates to earlier versions, which could delay AVROBIO’s clinical development plan or marketing approval for AVROBIO’s product candidates.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates and, following such resumption, if the results of AVROBIO’s clinical studies are inconclusive or if there are safety concerns or adverse events associated with AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO may:

be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for AVROBIO’s product candidates, if at all;

obtain approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;

obtain approval with labeling or a REMS that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings;

be subject to changes with the way the product is administered;

be required to perform additional clinical studies to support approval or be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements;

have regulatory authorities withdraw their approval of the product or impose restrictions on its distribution in the form of a REMS;

be subject to the addition of labeling statements, such as warnings or contraindications;

be sued; or

experience damage to AVROBIO’s reputation.

Any of these events could prevent AVROBIO from achieving or maintaining market acceptance of AVROBIO’s product candidates and impair AVROBIO’s ability to commercialize AVROBIO’s products.

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Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, even if AVROBIO completes the necessary preclinical and clinical studies, AVROBIO cannot predict whether or when AVROBIO would be able to obtain regulatory approval to commercialize a product candidate, and any approval could be for a narrower indication than anticipated.

AVROBIO cannot commercialize a product until the appropriate regulatory authorities have reviewed and approved the product candidate. Even if AVROBIO resumes development of its product candidates and they are able to demonstrate safety and efficacy in clinical studies to support submitting such programs for marketing approval, the regulatory agencies may not complete their review processes in a timely manner, or AVROBIO may not be able to obtain regulatory approval. Additional delays may result if an FDA Advisory Committee or other regulatory authority recommends non-approval or restrictions on approval. In addition, AVROBIO may experience delays or rejections based upon additional government regulation from future legislation or administrative action, or changes in regulatory agency policy during the period of product development, clinical studies and the review process. Regulatory agencies also may approve a treatment candidate for fewer or more limited indications than requested or may grant approval subject to the performance of post-marketing studies. In addition, regulatory agencies may not approve the labeling claims that are necessary or desirable for the successful commercialization of AVROBIO’s product candidates. If AVROBIO is unable to obtain necessary regulatory approvals or labeling claims, AVROBIO’s business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

AVROBIO’s commercially-scalable plato platform has been used in only two of AVROBIO’s clinical trials and clinical development has been halted.

While AVROBIO has submitted and, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, intends to continue to submit comparability studies to the FDA and other regulatory agencies, as needed, with respect to AVROBIO’s implementation of AVROBIO’s scalable plato platform, there can be no assurance that the FDA or other regulatory agencies will not in the future require AVROBIO to conduct additional preclinical studies or clinical trials that could result in delays and additional costs in AVROBIO’s development or commercialization programs for AVROBIO’s product candidates, which could adversely affect AVROBIO’s business. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO intends to continue implementing AVROBIO’s scalable plato platform, including heightened vector efficiency, AVROBIO’s closed, automated manufacturing system and utilization of a customized conditioning regimen, in connection with each of AVROBIO’s investigational product candidates. AVROBIO has developed the plato platform to form the backbone of AVROBIO’s commercial programs, with the intent of replacing AVROBIO’s original academic platforms with improved solutions for delivering AVROBIO’s gene therapy candidates to patients in multiple disease indications. In order to implement this transition, AVROBIO was and would continue to be required to conduct additional studies to bridge AVROBIO’s modified product candidates to earlier versions, including any earlier version that may have been utilized in a collaborator-sponsored clinical study, which could delay clinical development or marketing approvals. Clinical trial delays could also shorten any periods during which AVROBIO may have the exclusive right to commercialize AVROBIO’s product candidates, if approved, or allow AVROBIO’s competitors to bring products to market before AVROBIO does, which could impair AVROBIO’s ability to successfully commercialize AVROBIO’s product candidates and may harm AVROBIO’s business and results of operations.

AVROBIO faces significant competition in AVROBIO’s industry and, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, there can be no assurance that AVROBIO’s product candidates, if approved, will achieve acceptance in the market over existing established therapies. In addition, AVROBIO’s competitors may develop therapies that are more advanced or effective than AVROBIO’s, which may adversely affect AVROBIO’s ability to successfully market or commercialize any of AVROBIO’s product candidates, should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates.

AVROBIO operates in a highly competitive segment of the biopharmaceutical market. AVROBIO faces competition from many different sources, including larger pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as from academic institutions, government agencies and private and public research institutions. Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO’s product candidates, if successfully developed and approved, will compete with established therapies, some of which are being marketed by large and international companies. In addition, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO expects to compete with new treatments that are under development or may be advanced into the clinic by AVROBIO’s competitors. There are a variety of product candidates, including gene therapies, in development for the indications that AVROBIO is targeting.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO anticipates competing with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, many of which may have significantly greater resources than AVROBIO does. For example, for Gaucher disease, Sanofi, Pfizer, and Takeda market existing ERTs that represent the standard of care for Gaucher patients. For Gaucher disease AVROBIO also expects that AVROBIO would compete with oral therapies marketed by Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi. Sanofi also markets an enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease. In addition,

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AVROBIO may compete with other gene therapy companies in AVROBIO’s industry. Moreover, a number of gene therapy companies have announced preclinical or clinical non-viral and adeno-associated viral based gene therapy programs that, if successful in obtaining regulatory approval, could compete with AVROBIO’s gene therapies.

Many of AVROBIO’s competitors have significantly greater financial, product candidate development, manufacturing and marketing resources than AVROBIO does. Large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have extensive experience in clinical testing and obtaining regulatory approval for their products, and mergers and acquisitions within these industries may result in even more resources being concentrated among a smaller number of larger competitors. Established pharmaceutical companies may also invest heavily to accelerate discovery and development of novel therapeutics or to in-license novel therapeutics that could make the product candidates that AVROBIO develops obsolete. Competition may increase further as a result of advances in the commercial applicability of technologies and greater availability of capital for investment in these industries. AVROBIO’s business would be materially and adversely affected if competitors develop and commercialize products that are safer, more effective, have fewer or less severe side effects, have broader market acceptance, are more convenient or are less expensive than any product candidate that AVROBIO may develop.

Even if AVROBIO obtains regulatory approval of AVROBIO’s product candidates, the availability and price of AVROBIO’s competitors’ products could limit the demand and the price AVROBIO is able to charge for AVROBIO’s product candidates. AVROBIO may not be able to implement AVROBIO’s business plan if the acceptance of AVROBIO’s product candidates is inhibited by price competition or the reluctance of physicians to switch from existing methods of treatment to AVROBIO’s product candidates, or if physicians switch to other new drug or biologic products or choose to reserve AVROBIO’s product candidates for use in limited circumstances.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO would expect to seek designations for AVROBIO’s product candidates with the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities that are intended to confer benefits such as a faster development process or an accelerated regulatory pathway. However, there can be no assurance that AVROBIO could successfully obtain such designations. In addition, even if one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates are granted such designations, AVROBIO may not be able to realize the intended benefits of such designations.

The FDA and comparable foreign regulatory authorities offer certain designations for product candidates that are designed to encourage the research and development of product candidates that are intended to address conditions with significant unmet medical need. These designations may confer benefits such as additional interaction with regulatory authorities, a potentially accelerated regulatory pathway and priority review. However, there can be no assurance that AVROBIO will successfully obtain such designations for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates. In addition, while such designations could expedite the development or approval process, they generally do not change the standards for approval. Even if AVROBIO obtains such designations for one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates, there can be no assurance that AVROBIO will realize their intended benefits.

AVROBIO may seek a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for some of AVROBIO’s product candidates should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates. A breakthrough therapy is defined as a therapy that is intended, alone or in combination with one or more other therapies, to treat a serious or life-threatening disease or condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the therapy may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints, such as substantial treatment effects observed early in clinical development. For therapies that have been designated as breakthrough therapies, interaction and communication between the FDA and the sponsor of the trial can help to identify the most efficient path for clinical development while minimizing the number of patients placed in ineffective control regimens. Therapies designated as breakthrough therapies by the FDA are also eligible for accelerated approval. Designation as a breakthrough therapy is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if AVROBIO believes one of AVROBIO’s product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a breakthrough therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of a Breakthrough Therapy Designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to therapies considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates qualify as breakthrough therapies, the FDA may later decide that such product candidates no longer meet the conditions for qualification.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may seek an accelerated approval pathway for one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities. The FDA may grant accelerated approval to a therapeutic candidate designed to treat a serious or life-threatening condition that provides meaningful therapeutic benefit over available therapies upon a determination that the product candidate has an effect on a surrogate endpoint or intermediate clinical endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. If granted, accelerated approval is usually contingent on the sponsor’s agreement to conduct, in a diligent manner, additional post-approval confirmatory studies to verify and describe the drug’s clinical benefit, and the FDA is permitted to require, as appropriate, that such studies be underway prior to approval or within a specified period after the date of approval. Sponsors

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must also update FDA on the status of these studies, and under FDORA, the FDA has increased authority to withdraw approval of a drug granted accelerated approval on an expedited basis if the sponsor fails to conduct such studies in a timely manner, send the necessary updates to the FDA, or if such post-approval studies fail to verify the drug’s predicted clinical benefit.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, prior to seeking accelerated approval, AVROBIO would expect to seek feedback from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities and would otherwise evaluate AVROBIO’s ability to seek and receive such accelerated approval. There can be no assurance that after AVROBIO’s evaluation of the feedback and other factors AVROBIO would decide to pursue or submit a BLA for accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval. Similarly, there can be no assurance that after subsequent feedback from the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities, AVROBIO would continue to pursue or apply for accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval, even if AVROBIO initially decides to do so. Furthermore, if AVROBIO decides to submit an application for accelerated approval, there can be no assurance that such application will be accepted or that any approval will be granted on a timely basis, or at all. The FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities could also require AVROBIO to conduct further studies prior to considering AVROBIO’s application or granting approval of any type, including, for example, if other products are approved via the accelerated pathway and subsequently converted by FDA to full approval. A failure to obtain accelerated approval or any other form of expedited development, review or approval for AVROBIO’s product candidate would result in a longer time period to commercialization of such product candidate, could increase the cost of development of such product candidate and could harm AVROBIO’s competitive position in the marketplace. Moreover, even if AVROBIO is able to obtain accelerated approval for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates, there is no guarantee that post-approval studies will be able to confirm the clinical benefit, which could cause FDA to withdraw AVROBIO’s approval.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may also pursue programs or designations from foreign regulatory authorities, such as the UK’s Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, or ILAP, which aims to accelerate the time to market and facilitate patient access to certain types of medicinal products in development which target a life-threatening or seriously debilitating condition, or where there is a significant patient or public health need in the UK. To access the ILAP, an applicant applies for an Innovation Passport designation. Once an Innovation Passport designation is granted, the MHRA and its partner agencies (including The All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Scottish Medicines Consortium) will work with the Innovation Passport designee to define a Target Development Profile, or TDP. The TDP sets out a unique product-specific roadmap towards patient access in the UK, and provides access to a toolkit to support all stages of the design, development and approvals process, including continuous benefit-risk assessment, increased support for novel development approaches and enhanced patient engagement. However, although the goal of the ILAP is to reduce the time to market and enable earlier patient access, access does not accelerate conduct of clinical trials or mean that the regulatory requirements are less stringent, nor does it ensure that a marketing authorization application will be approved or that any approval will be granted within a particular timeframe or at all.

In addition, should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may seek Fast Track Designation for some of AVROBIO’s product candidates. If a therapy is intended for the treatment of a serious or life-threatening condition and the therapy demonstrates the potential to address unmet medical needs for this condition, the therapy sponsor may apply for Fast Track designation. However, the FDA has broad discretion whether or not to grant Fast Track designation, so even if AVROBIO believes a product candidate is eligible for this designation, there can be no assurance that the FDA would decide to grant it. Even if AVROBIO does receive Fast Track designation, AVROBIO may not experience a faster development process, review or approval compared to conventional FDA procedures, and receiving a Fast Track designation does not provide assurance of ultimate FDA approval. In addition, the FDA may withdraw Fast Track designation if it believes that the designation is no longer supported by data from AVROBIO’s clinical development program.

In addition, should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO may seek a RMAT designation for some of AVROBIO’s product candidates. An RMAT is defined as cell therapies, therapeutic tissue engineering products, human cell and tissue products, and combination products using any such therapies or products. Gene therapies, including genetically modified cells that lead to a durable modification of cells or tissues may meet the definition of a regenerative medicine therapy. The RMAT program is intended to facilitate efficient development and expedite review of RMATs, which are intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition. A new drug application or a BLA for an RMAT may be eligible for priority review or accelerated approval through (1) surrogate or intermediate endpoints reasonably likely to predict long-term clinical benefit or (2) reliance upon data obtained from a meaningful number of sites. Benefits of such designation also include early interactions with FDA to discuss any potential surrogate or intermediate endpoint to be used to support accelerated approval. A regenerative medicine therapy that is granted accelerated approval and is subject to post-approval requirements may fulfill such requirements through the submission of

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clinical evidence, clinical studies, patient registries, or other sources of real-world evidence, such as electronic health records; the collection of larger confirmatory data sets; or post-approval monitoring of all patients treated with such therapy prior to its approval. RMAT designation is within the discretion of the FDA. Accordingly, even if AVROBIO believes one of AVROBIO’s product candidates meets the criteria for designation as a regenerative medicine advanced therapy, the FDA may disagree and instead determine not to make such designation. In any event, the receipt of RMAT designation for a product candidate may not result in a faster development process, review or approval compared to drugs considered for approval under conventional FDA procedures and does not assure ultimate approval by the FDA. In addition, even if one or more of AVROBIO’s product candidates qualify for RMAT designation, the FDA may later decide that the biological products no longer meet the conditions for qualification.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, AVROBIO may be unable to obtain orphan drug designation for AVROBIO’s product candidates and, even if AVROBIO obtains such designation, AVROBIO may not be able to realize the benefits of such designation, including potential marketing exclusivity of AVROBIO’s product candidates, if approved.

Regulatory authorities in some jurisdictions, including the United States and other major markets, may designate drugs intended to treat conditions or diseases affecting relatively small patient populations as orphan drugs. Under the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, the FDA may designate a product candidate as an orphan drug if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition, which is generally defined as having a patient population of fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States, or a patient population greater than 200,000 in the United States where there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing the drug will be recovered from sales in the United States. In the European Union, the European Commission grants an orphan designation in respect of a product after receiving the opinion of the EMA’s Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products on an orphan designation application. Orphan designation in the European Union may be granted to products where the sponsor can establish that such product is intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the European Union when the application is made. Additionally, orphan designation may be granted for products intended for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening, seriously debilitating or serious and chronic condition when, without incentives, it is unlikely that sales of the product would generate sufficient returns in the European Union to justify the necessary investment in developing the product. In either case, the applicant must be able to establish that there is no satisfactory method of diagnosis, prevention or treatment of such condition authorized for marketing in the European Union, or if such a method exists, the product would be of a significant benefit to those affected by the condition.

If AVROBIO requests orphan drug designation (or the foreign equivalent) for any other product candidates, there can be no assurances that the FDA or applicable foreign regulatory authorities will grant such designation. Additionally, the designation of any of AVROBIO’s product candidates as an orphan product does not mean that any regulatory agency will accelerate regulatory review of, or ultimately approve, that product candidate, nor does it limit the ability of any regulatory agency to grant orphan drug designation to product candidates of other companies that treat the same indications as AVROBIO’s product candidates prior to AVROBIO’s product candidates receiving exclusive marketing approval.

Generally, if a product candidate with an orphan drug designation receives the first marketing approval for the indication for which it has such designation, the product is entitled to a period of marketing exclusivity, which precludes the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities from approving another marketing application for a product that constitutes the same drug treating the same indication for that marketing exclusivity period, except in limited circumstances. If another sponsor receives such approval before AVROBIO does (regardless of AVROBIO’s orphan drug designation), AVROBIO will be precluded from receiving marketing approval for AVROBIO’s product for the applicable exclusivity period. The applicable period is seven years in the United States and 10 years in the European Union. The exclusivity period in the European Union can be reduced to six years, if at the end of the fifth year, a product no longer meets the criteria for orphan designation or if the product is sufficiently profitable so that market exclusivity is no longer justified. The European Commission introduced a legislative proposal in April 2023 that, if implemented, could reduce the current ten-year marketing exclusivity period in the European Union for certain orphan medicines. Orphan drug exclusivity may be revoked if any regulatory agency determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if the manufacturer is unable to assure sufficient quantity of the product to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition.

Even if AVROBIO obtains orphan drug exclusivity for a product candidate, that exclusivity may not effectively protect the product candidate from competition because different drugs can be approved for the same condition in the United States. Even after an orphan drug is approved, the FDA may subsequently approve another drug for the same condition if the FDA concludes that the latter drug is not the same drug or is clinically superior in that it is shown to be safer, more effective

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or makes a major contribution to patient care. In the European Union, a marketing authorization may be granted to a similar medicinal product for the same orphan indication at any time if:

the second applicant can establish in its application that its medicinal product, although similar to the orphan medicinal product already authorized, is safer, more effective or otherwise clinically superior;

the holder of the marketing authorization for the original orphan medicinal product consents to a second orphan medicinal product application; or

the holder of the marketing authorization for the original orphan medicinal product cannot supply sufficient quantities of orphan medicinal product.

A marketing application for a product candidate with rare pediatric disease designation, or RPDD, if approved, may not meet the eligibility criteria for a Priority Review Voucher, or PRV, or the RPDD program may sunset before the FDA is able to consider eligibility for a voucher.

Designation of a drug or biologic as a product for a rare pediatric disease does not guarantee that a BLA for such drug or biologic will meet the eligibility criteria for a rare pediatric disease PRV at the time the application is approved. Under the FD&C Act, should AVROBIO resume development of AVROBIO’s product candidates, AVROBIO would need to request a rare pediatric disease PRV in AVROBIO’s original BLA for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates that previously received RPDD. The FDA may determine that any such BLA, if approved, does not meet the eligibility criteria for a PRV, including for the following reasons:

The disease indication no longer meets the definition of a rare pediatric disease;

the BLA contains an active ingredient that has been previously approved in a BLA;

the BLA is not deemed eligible for priority review;

the BLA does not rely on clinical data derived from studies examining a pediatric population and dosages of the drug intended for that population (that is, if the BLA does not contain sufficient clinical data to allow for adequate labeling for use by the full range of affected pediatric patients); or

the BLA is approved for a different adult indication than the rare pediatric disease for which the product candidate is designated.

The authority for the FDA to award rare pediatric disease PRVs for drugs that have received rare pediatric disease designation prior to September 30, 2024 currently expires on September 30, 2026. If the BLA for any of AVROBIO’s product candidates with RPDD is not approved prior to September 30, 2026 for any reason, regardless of whether it meets the criteria for a rare pediatric disease PRV, it will not be eligible for a PRV. However, it is also possible the authority for FDA to award rare pediatric disease PRVs will be further extended through federal lawmaking.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, even if AVROBIO obtains regulatory approval for a product candidate, AVROBIO’s products will remain subject to regulatory oversight.

Should AVROBIO resume development of its product candidates, even if AVROBIO obtains any regulatory approval for AVROBIO’s product candidates, they will be subject to ongoing regulatory requirements for manufacturing, labeling, packaging, storage, advertising, promotion, sampling, record-keeping and submission of safety and other post-market information. Any regulatory approvals that AVROBIO receives for AVROBIO’s product candidates also may be subject to a REMS, limitations on the approved indicated uses for which the product may be marketed or to the conditions of approval, or contain requirements for potentially costly post-marketing testing, including Phase 4 clinical trials, and surveillance to monitor the quality, safety and efficacy of the product. For example, the holder of an approved BLA is obligated to monitor and report adverse events and any failure of a product to meet the specifications in the BLA. FDA guidance advises that patients treated with gene therapies undergo long-term follow-up observation for potential adverse events for as long as 15 years, unless otherwise agreed by the FDA. The holder of an approved BLA also must submit new or supplemental applications and obtain FDA approval for certain changes to the approved product, product labeling or manufacturing process. Advertising and promotional materials must comply with FDA rules and are subject to FDA review, in addition to other potentially applicable federal and state laws.

In addition, product manufacturers and their facilities are subject to payment of user fees and continual review and periodic inspections by the FDA and other regulatory authorities for compliance with cGMP requirements and adherence to commitments made in the BLA or foreign marketing application. Manufacturers and manufacturers’ facilities are required to comply with extensive FDA, and comparable foreign regulatory authority, requirements including ensuring that quality control and manufacturing procedures conform to cGMP regulations and applicable product tracking and tracing requirements. If AVROBIO, or a regulatory authority, discover previously unknown problems with a product, such as

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adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or problems with the facility where the product is manufactured or disagrees with the promotion, marketing or labeling of that product, a regulatory authority may impose restrictions relative to that product, the manufacturing facility or AVROBIO, including requiring recall or withdrawal of the product from the market or suspension of manufacturing.

If AVROBIO fails to comply with applicable regulatory requirements following approval of any of AVROBIO’s product candidates, a regulatory authority may:

issue a warning letter asserting that AVROBIO is in violation of the law;

seek an injunction or impose administrative, civil or criminal penalties or monetary fines;

suspend or withdraw regulatory approval;

suspend any ongoing clinical trials;

refuse to approve a pending BLA or comparable foreign marketing application (or any supplements thereto) submitted by AVROBIO or AVROBIO’s strategic partners;

restrict the marketing or manufacturing of the product;

seize or detain the product or otherwise require the withdrawal of the product from the market;

refuse to permit the import or export of products; or

refuse to allow AVROBIO to enter into supply contracts, including government contracts.

Any government investigation of alleged violations of law could require AVROBIO to expend significant time and resources in response and could generate negative publicity. The occurrence of any event or penalty described above may inhibit AVROBIO’s ability to commercialize AVROBIO’s product candidates and adversely affect AVROBIO’s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Source: SEC EDGAR (public domain) · 10-K for the period ended 2023-12-31, filed 2024-03-14 · accession 0000950170-24-031635

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