As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 23, 2023
Registration No. 333-

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
 
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Under
The Securities Act of 1933
 
AVROBIO, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware
 
81-0710585
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
 
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

100 Technology Square
Sixth Floor
Cambridge, Massachusetts
 
02139
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
 
(Zip Code)
 
2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
(Full title of the plan)
 
Geoff MacKay
President and Chief Executive Officer
100 Technology Square
Sixth Floor
Cambridge, MA 02139
(Name and address of agent for service)
 
(617) 914-8420
(Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
 
Copies to:
 
Mitchell Bloom, Esq.
James Xu, Esq.
Goodwin Procter LLP
100 Northern Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02210
(617) 570-1000
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of large accelerated filer, accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, and emerging growth company in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer
   
Accelerated filer
 
       
Non-accelerated filer
   
Smaller reporting company
 
       
       
Emerging growth company
 
 
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐



EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Registration Statement on Form S-8 is being filed for the purpose of registering additional shares of common stock under the registrant’s 2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”).

The number of shares of common stock reserved and available for issuance under the ESPP is subject to an automatic annual increase on each January 1, by an amount equal to the lesser of (i) 1.0% of the number of shares of common stock issued and outstanding on the immediately preceding December 31, (ii) 1,115,700 shares or (iii) such amount as determined by the Administrator (as defined in the ESPP), currently the Compensation Committee of the registrant’s Board of Directors. Accordingly, on January 1, 2023, the number of shares of common stock reserved and available for issuance under the ESPP increased by 439,161 shares.
 
The additional shares described above are of the same class as other securities relating to the ESPP for which the registrant’s registration statements filed on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-225788) on June 21, 2018, on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-230494) on March 25, 2019, on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-237203) on March 16, 2020,  on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-254466) on March 18, 2021 and on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-263655) on March 17, 2022 are effective. The information contained in the registrant’s registration statement on Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-225788) is hereby incorporated by reference pursuant to General Instruction E.


Part II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
 
Item 8.
Exhibits.
 
EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit
No.
 
Description
   
 
Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant (filed as Exhibit 3.1 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 25, 2018 (File No. 001-38537) and incorporated herein by reference)
   
 
Certificate of Change of Registered Agent and/or Registered Office of the Registrant (filed as Exhibit 3.2 to the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 5, 2020 (File No. 001-38537) and incorporated herein by reference)
     
 
Amended and Restated By-laws (filed as Exhibit 3.2 to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 25, 2018 (File No. 001-38537) and incorporated herein by reference)
   
 
Second Amended and Restated Investors’ Rights Agreement among the Registrant and certain of its stockholders, dated January 9, 2018 (filed as Exhibit 4.2 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed on May 25, 2018 (File No.  333-225213) and incorporated herein by reference)
   
 
Opinion of Goodwin Procter LLP
   
 
Consent of Ernst & Young LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
   
 
Consent of Goodwin Procter LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1)
   
 
Power of Attorney (included on signature page)
     
 
2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.14 to the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333-225213))
     
 
Filing Fee Table

*          Filed herewith.


SIGNATURES
 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Cambridge, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the 23rd day of March, 2023.

 
AVROBIO, INC.
     
 
By:
/s/ Geoff MacKay
   
Geoff MacKay
   
President, Chief Executive Officer and
Principal Executive Officer
 
POWER OF ATTORNEY AND SIGNATURES
 
KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENT, that each individual whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints each of Geoff MacKay and Erik Ostrowski as such persons true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person in such persons name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement on Form S-8, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all documents in connection therewith, with the Commission granting unto each said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as such person might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that any said attorney-in-fact and agent, or any substitute or substitutes of any of them, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated.
 
Name
 
Title
 
Date
     
/s/ Geoff MacKay
 
Director, President, Chief Executive Officer and
Principal Executive Officer
 
March 23, 2023
Geoff MacKay
     
/s/ Erik Ostrowski
 
Chief Financial Officer and Principal Financial
and Accounting Officer
 
March 23, 2023
Erik Ostrowski
     
/s/ Bruce Booth
 
Chairman of the Board of Directors
 
March 23, 2023
Bruce Booth, D.Phil.
     
/s/ Ian T. Clark
 
Director
 
March 23, 2023
Ian T. Clark
     
/s/ Phillip B. Donenberg
 
Director
 
March 23, 2023
Phillip B. Donenberg
     
/s/ Gail M. Farfel
 
Director
 
March 23, 2023
Gail M. Farfel, Ph.D.
       
         
/s/ Annalisa Jenkins
 
Director
 
March 23, 2023
Annalisa Jenkins, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.P.
         
/s/ Christopher Paige
 
Director
 
March 23, 2023
Christopher Paige, Ph.D.
     
/s/ Philip Vickers
 
Director
 
March 23, 2023
Philip Vickers, Ph.D.




Exhibit 5.1

March 23, 2023

AVROBIO, Inc.
100 Technology Square
Sixth Floor
Cambridge, MA 02139

Re:     Securities Being Registered under Registration Statement on Form S-8

We have acted as counsel to you in connection with your filing of a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), on or about the date hereof relating to an aggregate of 439,161 shares (the “Shares”) of Common Stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“Common Stock”), of  AVROBIO, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), that may be issued pursuant to the Company’s 2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”).

We have reviewed such documents and made such examination of law as we have deemed appropriate to give the opinions set forth below.  We have relied, without independent verification, on certificates of public officials and, as to matters of fact material to the opinion set forth below, on certificates of officers of the Company.

The opinion set forth below is limited to the Delaware General Corporation Law.

For purposes of the opinion set forth below, we have assumed that no event occurs that causes the number of authorized shares of Common Stock available for issuance by the Company to be less than the number of then unissued Shares.

Based on the foregoing, we are of the opinion that the Shares have been duly authorized and, upon issuance and delivery against payment therefor in accordance with the terms of the ESPP, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

This opinion letter and the opinion it contains shall be interpreted in accordance with the Core Opinion Principles as published in 74 Business Lawyer 815 (Summer 2019).

We hereby consent to the inclusion of this opinion as Exhibit 5.1 to the Registration Statement.  In giving our consent, we do not admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

 
Very truly yours,
   
 
/s/ GOODWIN PROCTER LLP
   
 
GOODWIN PROCTER LLP




Exhibit 23.1

Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

We consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statement (Form S-8) pertaining to the 2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan of AVROBIO, Inc. of our report dated March 23, 2023, with respect to the consolidated financial statements of AVROBIO, Inc. included in its Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Boston, Massachusetts
March 23, 2023

 


Exhibit 107
Calculation of Filing Fee Tables
S-8
(Form Type)

AVROBIO, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Table 1: Newly Registered Securities
Security Type
Security Class Title
Fee
Calculation
Rule
 
Amount
Registered(1)
   
Proposed
Maximum
Offering
Price Per
Unit
   
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering
Price
   
Fee
Rate
   
Amount of
Registration
Fee
 
Equity
Common stock, par value $0.0001 per share
Rule 457(c) and Rule 457(h)
   
439,161
(2) 
 
$
1.05
(3) 
 
$
461,119.05
     
0.00011020
   
$
50.82
 
Total Offering Amounts
                 
$
461,119.05
           
$
50.82
 
Total Fee Offsets
                                     
-
 
Net Fee Due
                                 
$
50.82
 

(1)
Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), this Registration Statement shall also cover any additional shares of common stock which become issuable by reason of any stock dividend, stock split, recapitalization or any other similar transaction effected without the receipt of consideration which results in an increase in the number of the registrants outstanding shares of common stock.
(2)
Represents an automatic increase of 439,161 shares of common stock to the number of shares available for issuance under the registrant’s 2018 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”), effective January 1, 2023. Shares available for issuance under the ESPP were previously registered on a registration statement on Forms S-8 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 21, 2018 (Registration No. 333-225788), March 25, 2019 (Registration No. 333-230494), March 16, 2020 (Registration No. 333-237203), March 18, 2021 (Registration No. 333-254466) and March 17, 2022 (Registration No. 333-263655).
(3)
Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457 of the Securities Act, and based on 85% of $1.23 per share, which represents the average of the high and low prices of the registrant’s common stock reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on March 20, 2023. Pursuant to the ESPP, the purchase price of the shares of common stock reserved for issuance thereunder will be 85% of the fair market value of a share of common stock on the first trading day of the offering period or on the exercise date, whichever is less.