UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE 14A

Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No.     )

Filed by the Registrant  ☒                            Filed by a Party other than the Registrant  ☐

Check the appropriate box:

CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG

(Name of Registrant as Specified in Its certificate of incorporation)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if Other Than the Registrant)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG

Baarerstrasse 14

6300 Zug

Switzerland

+41 (0) 41 561 32 77

NOTICE OF INVITATION TO 2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

To Be Held On June 11, 2019

Dear Shareholders:

You are cordially invited to attend the 2019 annual general meeting of shareholders (the “2019 Annual General Meeting”) of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (the “Company”) to be held on June 11, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. Central European Summer Time (2:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) at the offices of VISCHER AG, Schützengasse 1, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland. At the 2019 Annual General Meeting, the Company’s board of directors (the “Board of Directors”) will ask the Company’s shareholders to consider and vote on the following matters:

The Board of Directors proposes to approve the annual report, the consolidated financial statements and the statutory financial statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2018 and to take note of the reports of the auditors. Copies of these documents are available for download at www.proxydocs.com/CRSP.

The Board of Directors proposes to carry forward the net loss resulting from the appropriation of financial results as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes that the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Company be discharged from personal liability for the business year ended December 31, 2018.

The Board of Directors proposes that Rodger Novak, M.D. be re-elected as member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Directors and that each of Samarth Kulkarni, Ph.D., Bradley

Bolzon, Ph.D., Ali Behbahani, M.D., Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., Simeon J. George, M.D., John T. Greene and Katherine A. High, M.D. be elected or re-elected, as appropriate, as directors, each for a term extending until completion of the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders.

The Board of Directors proposes to elect or re-elect, as appropriate, each of Simeon J. George, M.D., Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., and John T. Greene as members of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, each for a term extending until completion of the 2020 annual general meeting of the shareholders.

The Board of Directors proposes to hold the following separate votes on the non-performance-related and the variable compensation of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee:

6.a Binding vote on total non-performance-related compensation for members of the Board of Directors from the 2019 Annual General Meeting to the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders.

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders approve the total maximum amount of non-performance-related compensation for the members of the Board of Directors covering the period from the 2019 Annual General Meeting to the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders, i.e., USD $350,000 (cash base compensation plus social security costs).

6.b Binding vote on equity for members of the Board of Directors from the 2019 Annual General Meeting to the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders.

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders approve the maximum grant of equity or equity linked instruments for the members of the Board of Directors covering the period from the 2019 Annual General Meeting to the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders with maximum value of USD $5,950,000 (equity grant date value plus social security costs).

6.c Binding vote on total non-performance-related compensation for members of the Executive Committee from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders approve the total maximum amount of non-performance-related cash compensation for the members of the Executive Committee covering the period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, i.e., USD $3,050,000 (cash base compensation plus social security costs).

6.d Binding vote on total variable compensation for members of the Executive Committee for the current year ending December 31, 2019.

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders approve the total maximum amount of variable compensation for the members of the Executive Committee for the current year ending December 31, 2019, i.e., USD $1,950,000 (cash compensation plus social security costs).

6.e Binding vote on equity for members of the Executive Committee from the 2019 Annual General Meeting to the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders.

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders approve the maximum of equity or equity linked instruments for the members of the Executive Committee covering the period from the 2019 Annual General Meeting of shareholders to the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders with maximum value of USD $48,150,000 (equity grant date value plus social security costs).

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders approve an advisory resolution approving the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers, as disclosed in this proxy statement for the 2019 Annual General Meeting of shareholders pursuant to the executive compensation disclosure rules promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Board of Directors proposes that shareholders be provided with an advisory vote on the compensation of the Company’s named executive officers every three years.

The Board of Directors proposes to increase the Company’s conditional share capital for employee benefit plans by CHF 120,000 to CHF 587’378.88 for the issuance of up to 19’579’296 Common Shares and amend art. 3c para. 1 of the Articles of Association as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes to amend the CRISPR Therapeutics AG 2018 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2018 Plan”) to (a) increase the total number of common shares which may be issued pursuant to the 2018 Plan by 4,000,000 common shares, increasing the total number of common shares issuable under the 2018 Plan to 8,000,000 common shares, plus the number of shares that were available for issuance under the CRISPR Therapeutics AG Amended and Restated 2016 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “2016 Plan”) on the original effective date of the 2018 Plan, plus any common shares underlying any awards that are forfeited, canceled, held back upon exercise or settlement of an award to satisfy the exercise price or tax withholding, reacquired by us prior to vesting, satisfied

without any issuance of common shares, expired or are otherwise terminated, other than by exercise, under the 2018 Plan, the 2016 Plan and the CRISPR Therapeutics AG 2015 Stock Option and Grant Plan; and (b) increase the number of shares that may be issued under the 2018 Plan in the form of incentive stock options by 4,000,000 common shares.

The Board of Directors proposes to increase the authorized share capital to up to 26,134,003 shares, to extend the date by which the Board of Directors may increase the authorized share capital to June 10, 2021, and to amend and restate art. 3a of the Articles of Association in its entirety as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes to amend and restate art. 4 of the Articles of Association to, among other things, limit the registration of any person or entity in the share register with voting rights to 5% of the Company’s registered share capital, and to amend and restate art. 4 of the Articles of Association in its entirety as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes to amend and restate art. 16 of the Articles of Association to limit the accumulated voting rights of any person or entity to 15% of the Company’s registered share capital, and to amend and restate art. 16 of the Articles of Association in its entirety as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes to amend and restate art. 17 of the Articles of Association to provide that the removal of a member of the Board of Directors and the increase in the maximum number of members of the Board of Directors requires the approval of at least two thirds of represented shares present or voting, and to amend and restate art. 17 of the Articles of Association in its entirety as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes to amend and restate art. 41 of the Articles of Association to, among other things, allow the Board of Directors to determine the appropriate vesting period for equity awards

granted to the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, and amend and restate art. 41 of the Articles of Association as follows:

The Board of Directors proposes the re-election of lic. iur. Marius Meier, Attorney at Law, Lautengartenstrasse 7, CH-4052 Basel, as the independent voting rights representative until the closing of the 2020 annual general meeting of shareholders.

The Board of Directors proposes to elect Ernst & Young AG as the Company’s statutory auditor for the term of office of one year and the election of Ernst & Young LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2019.

The foregoing items of business are more fully described in the attached proxy statement, which forms a part of this notice and is incorporated herein by reference. Shareholders of record at the close of business on April 12, 2019 will be entitled to notice of and to vote at the 2019 Annual General Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof.

We have elected to provide access to our proxy materials over the Internet under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “notice and access” rules. We believe that providing our proxy materials over the Internet expedites shareholders’ receipt of proxy materials, lowers costs and reduces the environmental impact of our annual meeting.

We encourage all shareholders to attend the 2019 Annual General Meeting in person. However, whether or not you plan to attend the 2019 Annual General Meeting in person, we encourage you to read this proxy statement and submit your proxy or voting instructions as soon as possible. Please review the instructions on each of your voting options described in the proxy statement.

Thank you for your ongoing support and continued interest in CRISPR Therapeutics AG.

By Order of the Board of Directors,

Rodger Novak, M.D. Chairman of the Board of Directors

Zug, Switzerland

April 30, 2019

Important Notice Regarding Internet Availability of Proxy Materials: This proxy statement and our 2019 annual report to shareholders (the “Annual Report”), which includes our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, are available at www.proxydocs.com/CRSP. These documents are also available to any shareholder who wishes to receive a paper copy by calling (866) 648-8133, by emailing paper@investorelections.com or by submitting a request over the Internet at www.investorelections.com/CRSP.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG

Baarerstrasse 14

6300 Zug

Switzerland

+41 (0)41 561 32 77

PROXY STATEMENT

2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

To Be Held on June 11, 2019

INFORMATION CONCERNING SOLICITATION AND VOTING

This proxy statement and the enclosed proxy card are being furnished in connection with the solicitation of proxies by the board of directors (the “Board of Directors”) of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (the “Company”) for use at the 2019 annual general meeting of shareholders (the “2019 Annual General Meeting”) to be held on June 11, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. Central European Summer Time (2:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) at the offices of VISCHER AG, Schützengasse 1, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland, and at any adjournment thereof.

Unless otherwise stated, all references to “us,” “our,” “CRISPR,” “CRISPR Therapeutics,” “we,” the “Company” and similar designations refer to CRISPR Therapeutics AG and its consolidated subsidiaries.

This proxy statement summarizes information about the proposals to be considered at the meeting and other information you may find useful in determining how to vote. The proxy card is the means by which you actually authorize another person to vote your shares in accordance with your instructions. We are making this proxy statement, the related proxy card and our annual report to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2018 (the “Annual Report”) available to shareholders for the first time on or about April 30, 2019.

A copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, except for exhibits, will be furnished without charge to any shareholder upon written or oral request to CRISPR Therapeutics Inc., 610 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, on the internet at www.proxydocs.com/CRSP, by calling (866) 648-8133, by emailing paper@investorelections.com or by submitting a request over the Internet at www.investorelections.com/CRSP. This proxy statement and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEETING AND VOTING

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If your shares are held in “street name,” meaning they are held for your account by an intermediary, such as a broker, then you are deemed to be the beneficial owner of your shares, and the broker that actually holds the shares for you is the record holder and is required to vote the shares it holds on your behalf according to your instructions. The proxy materials, as well as voting and revocation instructions, should have been forwarded to you by the broker that holds your shares. In order to vote your shares, you will need to follow the instructions that your broker provides you. Many brokers solicit voting instructions over the Internet or by telephone.

If you do not give instructions to your broker, your broker will still be able to vote your shares with respect to certain “routine” items. The following proposals are considered routine items:

Accordingly, your broker may vote your shares in its discretion with respect to these proposals even if you do not give voting instructions.

Although brokers have discretionary authority to vote shares on “routine” matters, they do not have authority to vote shares on “non-routine” matters under applicable stock exchange rules. We believe that the following proposals to be voted on at the 2019 Annual General Meeting will be considered to be “non-routine” under the applicable stock exchange rule rules and, if you do not give your broker voting instructions on such proposals, your broker may not vote your shares with respect to these matters and your shares will be counted as “broker non-votes” with respect to the proposal. A “broker non-vote” occurs when shares held by a broker are not voted with respect to a particular proposal because the broker does not have or did not exercise discretionary authority to vote on the matter and has not received voting instructions from its clients.

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Regardless of whether your shares are held in street name, you are welcome to attend the 2019 Annual General Meeting. You may not vote shares held in street name in person at the meeting, however, unless you obtain a legal proxy, executed in your favor, from the holder of record (i.e., your broker). A legal proxy is not the form of proxy included with this proxy statement. You will not be able to vote shares you hold in street name in person at the meeting unless you have a legal proxy from your broker or other nominee issued in your name giving you the right to vote your shares.

If your shares are held in “street name,” you may submit new voting instructions by contacting your broker or other nominee. You may also vote in person at the 2019 Annual General Meeting if you obtain a legal proxy as described in the answer above.

Proposals 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14 require the affirmative vote of at least two thirds of the share votes cast (in person or by proxy) at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, excluding unmarked, invalid and non-exercisable votes.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Election of Directors

Our Board of Directors is comprised of one class, with members holding office for one year terms. There are currently eight directors on our Board of Directors (Rodger Novak, M.D., Samarth Kulkarni, Ph.D., Bradley Bolzon, Ph.D., Ali Behbahani, M.D., Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., Kurt von Emster, Simeon J. George, M.D., Thomas Woiwode, Ph.D.), whose terms expire at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, subject to such director’s earlier death, resignation or removal.

Set forth below are the names and certain information for each member and nominee of the Board of Directors, as of April 1, 2019. The information presented includes each director and nominee’s principal occupation and business experience for the past five years, and the names of other public companies of which he has served as a director during the past five years. The information presented below regarding the specific experience, qualifications, attributes and skills of each director and nominee led our nominating and corporate governance committee and our Board of Directors to conclude that he should serve as a director and be nominated for directorship at the 2019 Annual General Meeting. In addition, we believe that each director and nominee possesses the attributes or characteristics which the nominating and corporate governance committee expects of each director. These attributes and characteristics are further described in “—Corporate Governance Matters—Director Nomination Process”. There are no family relationships among any of our directors or executive officers.

Nominee for Re-Election as Member and Chairman of the Board of Directors

Rodger Novak, M.D., Co-Founder, Chairman and President: Dr. Novak co-founded CRISPR Therapeutics AG in November 2013, has served as a director on our Board of Directors since inception, served as our Chief Executive Officer until December 1, 2017 and, since that date, has served as our President and since December 21, 2017 as our Chairman. Prior to joining our company, Dr. Novak served as Global Head Anti-infectives Research and Development at Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Novak co-founded Nabriva Therapeutics AG, a biopharmaceutical company, in January 2006, and served as its Chief

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Operating Officer from inception to May 2012. From March 2003 to January 2006, Dr. Novak served as the Deputy Head of the Antibiotic Research Institute at Sandoz GmbH. Dr. Novak was appointed as Professor for Microbiology at the Vienna Biocenter in March 2001. Dr. Novak received an M.D. from Philipps University of Marburg, Germany. He continued with post-doctoral work in New York City at The Rockefeller University, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. Dr. Novak has authored numerous publications, including articles in Nature, Nature Medicine and Molecular Cell and is a co-inventor of five patents. We believe Dr. Novak’s experience as our chief executive officer, as well as his experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

Nominees for Election as Member

John T. Greene: Mr Greene served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Bioverativ, Inc. from November 2016 to April 2018. Prior to joining Bioverativ, Mr. Greene was the Chief Financial Officer of Willis Group Holdings from June 2014 until January 2016. Before joining Willis Group, Mr. Greene held senior executive roles at HSBC for eight years, including Chief Financial Officer for a business unit of HSBC, the global Retail Bank Wealth Management business. Prior to HSBC, Mr. Greene worked for 12 years in various roles at General Electric Company, including as Chief Financial Officer for GE Global Business Finance. Mr. Greene began his business career with Ernst & Young servicing audit clients and was certified as a public accountant. Mr. Greene has an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York, and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. We believe Mr. Greene’s experience in the biotechnology industry, as well as his experience as an executive at several large companies in other business sectors, qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

Katherine A. High, M.D: Dr. High is a co-founder of Spark Therapeutics, Inc. and has served as its President and a member of its board of directors since September 2014 and has served as its Head of Research & Development since September 2017. From 2004 to 2014, Dr. High was a Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She completed a five-year term from 2000 to 2005 on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee on Cell, Tissue and Gene Therapies and is a past president of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. Dr. High holds an A.B. in chemistry from Harvard University, an M.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, a business certification from the University of North Carolina Business School Management Institute for Hospital Administrators and an honorary M.A. from The University of Pennsylvania. We believe Dr. High’s experience as an executive and scientific leader in the life sciences industry qualifies her to serve on our Board of Directors.

Nominees for Re-Election as Member

Ali Behbahani, M.D., M.B.A., Director: Dr. Behbahani has served on our Board of Directors since April 2015. Dr. Behbahani joined New Enterprise Associates, Inc., or NEA, in 2007 and is a General Partner on the healthcare team. Dr. Behbahani has also served as a member of the board of directors of Nevro Corp., a medical device company, since August 2014, Adaptimmune Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, since September 2014, and Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since February 2018. Prior to joining NEA, Dr. Behbahani served as a consultant in business development at The Medicines Company, a pharmaceutical company. In addition, Dr. Behbahani formerly served as a Venture Associate at Morgan Stanley and as a Healthcare Investment Banking Analyst at Lehman Brothers. Dr. Behbahani received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Chemistry from Duke University. We believe Dr. Behbahani’s experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, as well as his experience as a member on the boards of directors of multiple companies in the industry, qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

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Bradley Bolzon, Ph.D., Director: Dr. Bolzon has served on our Board of Directors since November 2013. Dr. Bolzon is a Managing Director of Versant Venture Management, LLC, where he has been employed since May 2004. Dr. Bolzon previously served as a member of the board of directors of Flexion Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from its inception in 2007 to June 2014. From February 2000 to May 2004, Dr. Bolzon served as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Business Development, Licensing & Alliances of F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Bolzon also formerly served as Head of Cardiovascular Research at Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Bolzon received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and an M.S. in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto. He continued with post-doctoral work at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. We believe Dr. Bolzon’s experience in the biopharmaceutical industry qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., Director: Dr. Cagnoni has served on our Board of Directors since December 2015. Since June 2018, Dr. Cagnoni has served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Rubius Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company. Dr. Cagnoni also serves on the board of directors of Tizona Therapeutics, Inc. and Tango Therapeutics, Inc., both of which are biotechnology companies. From May 2015 until June 2018, Dr. Cagnoni served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tizona Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Cagnoni previously served as managing director at MPM Capital from May 2015 until October 2016, as President of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from October 2013 to April 2015, and as Executive Vice President, Global Research and Development and Technical Operations from April 2013 to October 2013. Dr. Cagnoni also served in management roles at the following biotechnology companies: Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development at Novartis AG from October 2009 to March 2013, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Allos Therapeutics, Inc. from March 2007 to September 2009, and Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs at OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from July 2004 to March 2007. Dr. Cagnoni was also Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Director of the Pharmacology Laboratory at the University of Colorado Bone Marrow Transplant Program. Dr. Cagnoni received an M.D. from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine. He continued with post-doctoral work in Hematology and Oncology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and in Stem Cell Transplantation at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. We believe Dr. Cagnoni’s experience in the biotechnology industry qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

Simeon J. George, M.D., Director: Dr. George has served on our Board of Directors since April 2015. Dr. George is the Chief Executive Officer of S.R. One, Limited, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline plc, where he has been employed since 2007. Dr. George has also served as a director of Principia Biopharma Inc. since September 2018. In addition, Dr. George previously served as a director on the boards of the following biotechnology companies: HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. from June 2011 to October 2015 and Genocea Biosciences, Inc. from July 2010 to December 2014. Dr. George also served as a consultant at Bain & Company from October 2006 to August 2007. Dr. George received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University. We believe Dr. George’s experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, as well as his experience as a member on the boards of directors of multiple companies in the industry, qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

Samarth Kulkarni, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Director: Dr. Kulkarni has served as our Chief Executive Officer since December 1, 2017. Previous to that, Dr. Kulkarni served as our President and Chief Business Officer from May 2017 to November 30, 2017 and, before that, as our Chief Business Officer from August 2015 when he joined our company. Prior to joining our company, Dr. Kulkarni was at McKinsey & Company from 2006 to July 2015, with various titles, his most recent being Partner within the Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology practice. Dr. Kulkarni received a Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington and a B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology. Dr. Kulkarni has authored several publications in leading scientific and business journals. We believe Dr. Kulkarni’s experience as our Chief Executive Officer, his previous experience as our President and Chief Business Officer, and his experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, qualifies him to serve on our Board of Directors.

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Current Directors Not Standing for Re-Election

Kurt von Emster, CFA, Director: Mr. von Emster has served on our Board of Directors since April 2015, and Mr. von Emster’s term expires at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, subject to his earlier death, resignation or removal. Mr. von Emster currently serves as Managing Partner at Abingworth LLP, where he has been employed as a Partner since January 2015. Mr. von Emster also has served as a member of the board of directors of SutroVax, a biopharmaceutical vaccine company, since July 2015 where he is currently Chairman, CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, since April 2009, and Attenua, Inc. since April 2018. Mr. von Emster previously served on the board of directors of the following companies: Kesios Therapeutics, a biotherapeutics company, from November 2015 to December 2016, Cytos Biotechnology AG from November 2012 to January 2016 (merged and renamed Kuros Biosciences in January 2016), Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. from February 2014 to March 2015, and Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pernix Therapeutics in March 2013) from September 2005 to January 2013. In addition, Mr. von Emster co-founded venBio LLC, a health-care focused investment firm, in 2009, and served as Partner until 2014. Prior to that, Mr. von Emster was General Partner at MPM Capital, Inc., a biotechnology private equity firm, from 2001 to 2009. Mr. von Emster was also a Biotechnology and Healthcare Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton Group from 1989 to 2000. Mr. von Emster received a B.S. in Business and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is a Chartered Financial Analyst, or CFA.

Thomas F. Woiwode, Ph.D., Director: Dr. Woiwode has served on our Board of Directors since April 2014, and Dr. Woiwode’s term expires at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, subject to his earlier death, resignation or removal. Dr. Woiwode has been with Versant Ventures since 2002 in various capacities, serving as a Venture Partner since 2011 and a Managing Director since 2014. Dr. Woiwode serves on the board of directors of several private biotechnology companies and on the board of directors of two other public companies, Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. and Gritstone Oncology, Inc., both biotechnology companies. Dr. Woiwode also has served on the board of directors of Audentes Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, from July 2013 to July 2017. Dr. Woiwode previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Okairos, a biopharmaceutical company acquired by GlaxoSmithKline plc in May 2013, from July 2011 to May 2013. In addition, Dr. Woiwode co-founded Euroventures, a wholly owned biotechnology incubator within Versant, and in this role, served as the founding Chief Business Officer of three biotech companies created within Versant. Dr. Woiwode received a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Stanford University and a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Corporate Governance Matters

Our Board of Directors believes that good corporate governance is important to ensure that our company is managed for the long-term benefit of shareholders. This section describes key corporate governance guidelines and practices that our Board of Directors has adopted. Complete copies of our Organizational Rules, corporate governance guidelines, committee charters for each of our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, and code of business conduct and ethics are available on the “Investors & Media—Corporate Governance” section of our website, which is located at www.crisprtx.com. Alternatively, you can request a copy of any of these documents by writing us at CRISPR Therapeutics Inc., 610 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attention: Investor Relations.

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Our Board of Directors has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, or the Code of Conduct, that is applicable to all of our employees, executive officers and directors, which is available on our website www.crisprtx.com. The Audit Committee of our Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the Code of Conduct. Approval of the Audit Committee is required for any waivers of the Code of Conduct for employees, executive officers and directors. Any amendments to the Code of Conduct, or any waivers of its requirements, will be disclosed on our website.

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Board Leadership Structure and Risk Oversight

Board Leadership Structure

As a general policy, our Board of Directors believes that separation of the positions of chairman and chief executive officer reinforces the independence of the Board of Directors from management, creates an environment that encourages objective oversight of management’s performance and enhances the effectiveness of the Board of Directors as a whole. Accordingly, we currently separate the roles of chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Directors, with Dr. Kulkarni serving as our chief executive officer and Dr. Novak serving as chairman of the Board of Directors. As chief executive officer, Dr. Kulkarni is responsible for managing our executive leadership team and, together with that team, setting the strategic direction for our company and the day-to-day leadership and performance of our company, while the chairman of the Board of Directors presides over meetings of the Board of Directors, including executive sessions, and performs oversight responsibilities. Our Board of Directors has three standing committees that currently consist of, and are chaired by, independent directors. Our Board of Directors delegates substantial responsibilities to the committees, which then report their activities and actions back to the full Board of Directors. We believe that the independent committees of our Board of Directors and their chairpersons promote effective independent governance. We believe this structure represents an appropriate allocation of roles and responsibilities for our company at this time because it strikes an effective balance between management and independent leadership participation in our Board of Directors proceedings.

Risk Oversight

Our Board of Directors oversees the management of risks inherent in the operation of our business and the implementation of our business strategies. Our Board of Directors performs this oversight role by using several different levels of review. In connection with its reviews of the operations and corporate functions of our company, our Board of Directors addresses the primary risks associated with those operations and corporate functions. In addition, our Board of Directors reviews the risks associated with our company’s business strategies periodically throughout the year as part of its consideration of undertaking any such business strategies.

Each committee of our Board of Directors also oversees the management of our company’s risk that falls within the committee’s areas of responsibility. In performing this function, each committee has full access to management, as well as the ability to engage advisors. Our chief executive officer reports to the Audit Committee and Board of Directors and is responsible for identifying, evaluating and implementing risk management controls and methodologies to address any identified risks. In connection with its risk management role, our Audit Committee meets privately with representatives from our independent registered public accounting firm and our chief executive officer. The Audit Committee oversees the operation of our risk management program, including the identification of the primary risks associated with our business and periodic updates to such risks, and reports to our Board of Directors regarding these activities.

Board Determination of Independence

Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq Listing Rules requires a majority of a listed company’s board of directors to be comprised of independent directors within one year of listing. In addition, the Nasdaq Listing Rules require that, subject to specified exceptions, each member of a listed company’s audit, compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees be independent under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Audit committee members must also satisfy the independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act, and Compensation Committee members must also satisfy the independence criteria set forth in Rule 10C-1 under the Exchange Act. Under Rule 5605(a)(2) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules, a director will only qualify as an “independent director” if, in the opinion of our Board of Directors, that person does not have a relationship that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. In order to be considered independent for purposes of Rule 10A-3, a member of an Audit Committee of a listed company may not, other than in his or her capacity as a member of the Audit Committee, the Board of

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Directors, or any other committee of the Board of Directors, accept, directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory, or other compensatory fee from the listed company or any of its subsidiaries or otherwise be an affiliated person of the listed company or any of its subsidiaries. In order to be considered independent for purposes of Rule 10C-1, the Board of Directors must consider, for each member of a Compensation Committee of a listed company, all factors specifically relevant to determining whether a director has a relationship to such company which is material to that director’s ability to be independent from management in connection with the duties of a Compensation Committee member, including, but not limited to: (1) the source of compensation of the director, including any consulting advisory or other compensatory fee paid by such company to the director; and (2) whether the director is affiliated with the company or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.

Our Board of Directors has undertaken a review of its composition, the composition of its committees and the independence of each director. Based upon information requested from and provided by each director concerning his background, employment and affiliations, including family relationships, our Board of Directors has determined that the current members of the Board of Directors, as well as the nominees to be elected to the Board of Directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, do not have any relationships that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director and that each of these directors is “independent” as that term is defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC, and the listing requirements and rules of the Nasdaq Listing Rules. In making this determination, our Board of Directors considered the current and prior relationships that each non-employee director has with our company and all other facts and circumstances our Board of Directors deemed relevant in determining their independence, including the beneficial ownership of our common shares by each non-employee director.

Board of Director Meetings and Attendance

Our Board of Directors held six formal meetings during 2018. During 2018, each of the directors then in office attended at least 75% of the aggregate of the number of Board of Directors meetings and the number of meetings held by all committees of the Board of Directors on which such director then served.

Communicating with the Independent Directors

Our Board of Directors will give appropriate attention to written communications that are submitted by shareholders, and will respond if and as appropriate. The chairman of the Board of Directors is primarily responsible for monitoring communications from shareholders and for providing copies or summaries to the other directors as he considers appropriate.

Shareholders who wish to send communications on any topic to our Board of Directors should address such communications to CRISPR Therapeutics AG, Baarerstrasse 14, 6300 Zug, Switzerland, Attn: General Counsel and Secretary, telephone +41 (0)41 561 32 77 and CRISPR Therapeutics, Inc., 610 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, Attn: General Counsel and Secretary, telephone: +1 617 315-4600.

Committees of the Board of Directors

We have established an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee, and a Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Each of these committees operates under a charter that has been approved by our Board of Directors. A copy of each committee’s charter can be found under the “Investors & Media—Corporate Governance” section of our website, which is located at www.crisprtx.com.

Audit Committee

Our Audit Committee currently consists of Kurt von Emster, Ali Behbahani, M.D., and Simeon J. George, M.D and, subject to and following the election of directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, will consist of John T. Greene, Ali Behbahani, M.D., and Simeon J. George, M.D. Our Board of Directors has determined that

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each current and proposed member of our Audit Committee are independent under the Nasdaq listing standards and Rule 10A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. The chair of our Audit Committee is currently Mr. von Emster, and if Mr. Greene is elected to the Board of Directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, Mr. Greene will serve as the chair of our Audit Committee. Our Board of Directors has determined that each of Messrs. von Emster and Greene is an “Audit Committee financial expert” within the meaning of SEC regulations. Our Board of Directors has also determined that each member of our Audit Committee can read and understand fundamental financial statements in accordance with applicable requirements. In arriving at these determinations, the Board of Directors has examined each Audit Committee member’s scope of experience and the nature of their employment in the corporate finance sector. The Audit Committee held four formal meetings during 2018.

The Audit Committee has the responsibility to, among other things:

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Compensation Committee

Our Compensation Committee currently consists of Thomas Woiwode, Ph.D., Simeon J. George, M.D., and Pablo Cagnoni, M.D. and, subject to and following the election of directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, will consist of Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., Simeon J. George, M.D. and John T. Greene. Our Board of Directors has determined that each current and proposed member of our Compensation Committee are independent under the Nasdaq listing standards, are outside directors within the definition of Section 162(m) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), and are “non-employee directors” for purposes of Rule 16b-3 promulgated by the SEC, and Rule 10C-1(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. The chair of our Compensation Committee is currently Dr. Woiwode, and if Dr. George is elected to the Board of Directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, Dr. George will serve as the chair of our Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee held four formal meetings during 2018.

Our Compensation Committee has the responsibility to, among other things:

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Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, or the Nominating Committee, currently consists of Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., Ali Behbahani, M.D., and Bradley Bolzon, Ph.D. and, subject to and following the election of directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, will consist of Pablo Cagnoni, M.D., Ali Behbahani, M.D., Bradley Bolzon, Ph.D. and Katherine A. High, M.D. Our Board of Directors has determined that each current and proposed member of the Nominating Committee are independent under the Nasdaq listing standards. The current chair of our Nominating Committee is Dr. Cagnoni, and if Dr. Cagnoni is elected to the Board of Directors at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, Dr. Cagnoni will continue serving as the chair of our Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee held two formal meetings during 2018.

The Nominating Committee has the responsibility to, among other things:

Director Nomination Process

The process followed by our Nominating Committee to identify and evaluate director candidates includes requests to board members and others for recommendations, meetings from time to time to evaluate biographical information and background material relating to potential candidates and interviews of selected candidates by members of the Nominating Committee and our Board of Directors.

Criteria and Diversity

In considering whether to recommend to our Board of Directors any particular candidate for inclusion in our Board of Directors’ slate of recommended director nominees, including candidates recommended by shareholders, the Nominating Committee applies the criteria set forth in our corporate governance guidelines. These criteria include the candidate’s experience at a strategic or policymaking level in a business, government,

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non-profit or academic organization of high standing, accomplishments in the candidate’s respective field, the candidate’s reputation for high ethical and moral standards, the candidate’s time and ability to devote to the affairs of the company, and to the extent applicable, the candidates history of actively contributing to any boards of directors on which the candidate has previously served.

The director biographies set forth in this proxy statement indicate each nominee’s experience, qualifications, attributes and skills that led our Nominating Committee and our Board of Directors to conclude he should continue to serve as a director. Our Nominating Committee and our Board of Directors believe that each of the nominees has the individual attributes and characteristics required of each of our directors, and the nominees as a group possess the skill sets and specific experience desired of our Board of Directors as a whole.

We do not have a policy (formal or informal) with respect to diversity, but we believe that our board, taken as a whole, should embody a diverse set of skills, experiences and backgrounds. In this regard, our Nominating Committee and our Board of Directors also take into consideration the diversity (with respect to gender, race and national origin) of our board members but do not make any particular weighting of diversity or any other characteristic in evaluating nominees and directors. Our Nominating Committee’s and our Board of Directors’ priority in selecting board members is identification of persons who will further the interests of our shareholders.

Shareholder Nominations

Under our Articles of Association, one or more registered shareholders who together represent shares representing at least the lesser of (i) ten percent of our issued share capital or (ii) an aggregate par value of one million Swiss francs may demand that an item be placed on the agenda of a meeting of shareholders. The relevant provisions of our Articles of Association regarding the right of one or more registered shareholders who together represent shares representing at least the lesser of (i) ten percent of our issued share capital or (ii) an aggregate par value of one million Swiss francs to demand that an item be placed on the agenda of a meeting of shareholders are available on our website at http://ir.crisprtx.com. You may also contact the General Counsel and Secretary of the Company at secretary@crisprtx.com to request a copy of the relevant provisions of our Articles of Association.

Nominations of director candidates by registered shareholders must follow the rules for shareholder proposals described under “Other Matters—Shareholder Proposals and Directors Nominations”. Assuming that appropriate biographical and background material has been provided on a timely basis, the Nominating Committee will evaluate shareholder-recommended candidates by following substantially the same process, and applying substantially the same criteria, as it follows for candidates submitted by others. If the Board of Directors determines to nominate a shareholder-recommended candidate and recommends his or her election, then his or her name will be included in our proxy card for the next annual general meeting.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of the members of the compensation, nomination and corporate governance committee is currently, or has been at any time, one of our officers or employees. None of our executive officers currently serves, or has served during the last year, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving as a member of our board of directors or compensation, nomination and corporate governance committee.

Policies and Procedures for Related Person Transactions

Our Board of Directors has adopted a written related person transaction policy to set forth policies and procedures for the review and approval or ratification of related person transactions. This policy covers any transaction, arrangement or relationship, or any series of similar transactions, arrangements or relationships, in which we were or are to be a participant and any director or executive officer, director nominee, holder of 5% or

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more of any class of our voting securities or any member of the immediate family of or entities affiliated with any of the foregoing had or will have a direct or indirect material interest, including, without limitation, purchases of goods or services by or from the related person or entities in which the related person has a material interest, indebtedness, guarantees of indebtedness and employment by us of a related person. Any such transaction must be presented to our Audit Committee for review, consideration and approval. In approving or rejecting any such proposal, our Audit Committee is to consider the relevant facts and circumstances available and deemed relevant to the Audit Committee, including, but not limited to, the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction, and whether the transaction is on terms no less favorable to us than terms we could have generally obtained from an unaffiliated third party under the same or similar circumstances.

Related Person Transactions

Other than the compensation arrangements for our named executive officers and directors, which are described elsewhere in the “Executive Compensation” and “Director Compensation” sections of this proxy statement, set forth below is a description of transactions since January 1, 2018 to which we were or are a party, and in which:

Registration Rights Agreement

Pursuant to a Registration Rights Agreement, which became automatically effective upon the termination of the Shareholders’ Agreement at the closing of our initial public offering (the “IPO”) in October 2016, certain holders of our common shares, including certain holders of five percent of our capital stock and entities affiliated with certain of our directors, are entitled to certain rights with respect to registration of such shares under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). These shares are referred to as registrable securities. As of April 1, 2019, the holders of approximately 9,414,553 common shares are entitled to the demand, piggyback and Form S-3 registration rights described below.

The registration of registrable securities pursuant to the exercise of the registration rights would enable the holders to trade these registrable securities without restriction under the Securities Act when the applicable registration statement is declared effective. We will pay the registration expenses of the shares registered pursuant to the demand, piggyback and Form S-3 registrations described below.

Generally, in an underwritten offering, the underwriters, if any, have the right, subject to specified conditions, to limit the number of registrable securities the holders may include. The demand, piggyback and Form S-3 registration rights described below will expire on October 24, 2021, or with respect to any particular holder, at such time that such holder can sell its shares under Rule 144 of the Securities Act during any ninety-day period.

Demand Registration Rights

The holders of the registrable securities are entitled to certain demand registration rights. The holders of at least two-thirds (66 2/3%) of the registrable securities then outstanding may make a written request that we register all or a portion of their registrable securities, subject to certain specified exceptions. Such request for registration must cover securities the aggregate proceeds of which, after payment of underwriting discounts, commissions and other expenses related to such registration, would exceed $10,000,000. In no event will we be required to effect more than two demand registrations.

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Piggyback Registration Rights

If we propose to register for offer and sale any of our securities under the Securities Act in an offering for cash, either for our own account or for the account of other security holders, the holders of registrable securities will be entitled to certain “piggyback” registration rights allowing them to include their registrable securities in such registration, subject to certain marketing and other limitations. As a result, whenever we propose to file a registration statement under the Securities Act in connection with a public offering for our own account or for the account of any shareholder, the holders of these registrable securities are entitled to notice of the registration and have the right, subject to limitations that the underwriters may impose on the number of shares included in the registration, to include their registrable securities in the registration.

Form S-3 Registration Rights

The holders of registrable securities are entitled to certain Form S-3 registration rights. Any holder of registrable securities can make a request that we register for offer and sale all or any portion of their registrable securities on Form S-3 or any similar short form registration statement if we are qualified to file a registration statement on Form S-3, subject to certain specified exceptions. Such request for registration on Form S-3 must cover securities the aggregate offering price of which, before payment of the underwriting discounts and commissions, equals or exceeds $2.0 million. We will not be required to effect more than one registration on Form S-3 within any 12-month period.

Bayer Joint Venture

In December 2015, we entered into a Joint Venture Agreement, or the JV Agreement, with Bayer HealthCare LLC, an affiliate of Bayer BV, or Bayer Healthcare, to create Casebia Therapeutics LLP, or Casebia, to discover, develop and commercialize new therapeutics. At the closing of the JV Agreement in March 2016, we contributed $0.1 million to Casebia and Bayer Healthcare contributed an initial amount of $45 million. Bayer Healthcare is committed to contribute up to $300 million in the aggregate, including the $45 million initial contribution. Additionally, as part of our contribution to Casebia, in March 2016, we entered into an IP Contribution Agreement, or the CRISPR IP Contribution Agreement, with Casebia. Pursuant to the CRISPR IP Contribution Agreement, we granted Casebia an exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, royalty-free license, including the right to sublicense, to the use of our CRISPR/Cas9 technology. In return, Casebia paid us an aggregate amount of $35 million. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized $4.8 million of revenue with respect to this collaboration.

Vertex Research Collaboration Agreement and Joint Development Agreement

In October 2015, we entered into a strategic research collaboration agreement (the “Collaboration Agreement”) with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, or Vertex, and one of its affiliates focused on the development of certain CRISPR/Cas9-based therapies. Under the terms of this agreement, we received an upfront, nonrefundable payment of $75.0 million and $30.0 million in convertible loan proceeds. In December 2017, we and Vertex entered into a joint development and commercialization agreement (“JDA”) for the development and commercialization of hemoglobinopathy targets identified under the Collaboration Agreement as well as an amendment to the Collaboration Agreement (“Amendment”). The Amendment, among other things, modified certain definitions and provisions of the Collaboration Agreement to make them consistent with the JDA and clarified how many options are exercised (or deemed exercised) in connection with certain targets specified under the Collaboration Agreement. In connection with entering into the JDA, we received a $7.0 million up-front payment from Vertex and we are eligible for a one-time low seven-digit milestone payment upon the dosing of the second patient in a clinical trial with the initial product candidate under the JDA. During the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized revenue of $0.6 million and research and development expense of $20.2 million, which is net of $13.8 million of reimbursements from Vertex related to these agreements.

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January 2018 Public Offering

On January 5, 2018, we entered into an underwriting agreement with Goldman Sachs & Co, LLC, Piper Jaffray & Co. and Barclays Capital Inc., as representatives of the several underwriters, relating to an underwritten public offering of shares of our common shares. Pursuant to the underwriting agreement, we sold an aggregate of 5,750,000 common shares to the underwriters, including 750,000 common shares sold by us pursuant to the full exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares in connection with the offering (the “Option Shares”), at a price to the public of $22.75 per share. The offering of the initial 5,000,000 shares closed on January 9, 2018, and the offering of the 750,000 Option Shares closed on January 12, 2018. Certain holders of more than 5% of our capital stock (including common shares acquired in the offering) purchased our common shares from the underwriters in the offering at the offering price of the shares to the public of $22.75 per share. The following table sets forth the number of common shares purchased and the aggregate cash purchase price paid by each of these shareholders.

September 2018 Public Offering

On September 20, 2018, we entered into an underwriting agreement with Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Piper Jaffray & Co., and Barclays Capital Inc., as representatives of the several underwriters, relating to an underwritten public offering of our common shares. Pursuant to the underwriting agreement, we sold an aggregate of 4,210,526 common shares to the underwriters at a price to the public of $47.50 per share. This offering closed on September 25, 2018. Certain holders of more than 5% of our capital stock (including common shares acquired in the offering) purchased our common shares from the underwriters in the offering at the offering price of the shares to the public of $47.50 per share. The following table sets forth the number of common shares purchased and the aggregate cash purchase price paid by each of these shareholders.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Certain information regarding our executive officers who are not also directors, as of April 1, 2019, is set forth below.

Tony W. Ho, M.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development: Dr. Ho has served as our Executive Vice President, Research and Development since August 2017. Prior to joining our company, Dr. Ho held a number of roles at AstraZeneca between 2012 and 2017, where he most recently was Senior Vice President and Head of Oncology Integration and Innovation. Before that, he was Vice President and Global Medicine Leader, where he led the development and commercialization of two key drugs for AstraZeneca – Lynparza, a PARP inhibitor for ovarian cancer and Imfinizi (anti-PD-L1), AstraZeneca’s first immuno-oncology drug for bladder cancer. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Ho was the Neurology and Ophthalmology Clinical Section Head at Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr. Ho was the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Neuronyx, Inc., a regenerative medicine company. Dr. Ho completed his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

James R. Kasinger, General Counsel and Secretary: Mr. Kasinger has served as our General Counsel and Secretary since May 2017. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Kasinger served as the General Counsel and Secretary of Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company, from April 2014 to May 2017. Prior to these roles, Mr. Kasinger was a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP, where he represented life sciences, technology and other high-growth companies. Mr. Kasinger started his legal career at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault. Mr. Kasinger holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a B.A. from Wheaton College.

Lawrence O. Klein, Ph.D., Chief Business Officer: Dr. Klein has served as our Chief Business Officer since January 2019; before that, Dr. Klein served as our Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategy from November 2017 to December 2018 and as our Vice President, Strategy from February 2016 to October 2017. Before joining our company, from October 2014 to February 2016, Dr. Klein was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in the biotech practice and served a number of biotechnology companies on a wide range of topics from strategy to operations. Dr. Klein received a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where he conducted research in the field of T cell immunology, and he holds a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Michael J. Tomsicek, Chief Financial Officer: Mr. Tomsicek has served as our Chief Financial Officer since November 2017. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Tomsicek served as Chief Financial Officer of Abiomed, a publicly-traded provider of medical devices, from July 2015 to August 2017. Before that, Mr. Tomsicek was Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. He was at Cubist from August 2010 to January 2015 (through its sale to Merck) and held a series of roles of increasing responsibility leading finance, investor relations and strategic sourcing through a period of dynamic growth at the company. Prior to Cubist, Mr. Tomsicek spent nearly eight years at General Electric Healthcare, as finance manager in global operations, and then as chief financial officer of its ultrasound business. Mr. Tomsicek holds a BS in engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Wisconsin.

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EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

This Compensation Discussion and Analysis (“CDA”) describes our executive compensation program and the 2018 compensation for our named executive officers, or NEOs. This CDA should be read with the compensation tables and related disclosures for our NEOs.

Our NEOs for 2018 were as follows:

Executive Summary

We are a leading gene editing company focused on the development of CRISPR/Cas9-based therapeutics. CRISPR/Cas9 stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) and is a revolutionary technology for gene editing, the process of precisely altering specific sequences of genomic DNA. We aim to apply this technology to disrupt, delete, correct and insert genes to treat genetically-defined diseases and to engineer advanced cellular therapies. We believe that our scientific expertise, together with our gene editing approach, may enable an entirely new class of highly effective and potentially curative therapies for patients with both rare and common diseases for whom current biopharmaceutical approaches have had limited success. Our most advanced programs target the genetically-defined diseases transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT) and severe sickle cell disease (SCD), two hemoglobinopathies with high unmet medical need. We are also progressing several gene-edited allogeneic cell therapy programs, beginning with three allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR-T candidates for the treatment of hematological and solid tumor cancers.

Corporate Performance Highlights

Our executive compensation program seeks to incentivize and reward strong corporate performance. Highlights of our 2018 corporate performance include:

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Overview of Executive Compensation Program

Executive Compensation Philosophy

Our executive compensation program is guided by our overarching philosophy of paying for demonstrable performance. Consistent with this philosophy, we have designed our executive compensation program to achieve the following primary goals:

Executive Compensation Program Design

Our executive compensation program is designed to be reasonable and competitive, and balance our goal of attracting, motivating, rewarding and retaining top-performing senior executives with our goal of aligning their interests with those of our shareholders. The Compensation Committee annually evaluates our executive compensation program to ensure that it is consistent with our short-term and long-term goals and the dynamic nature of our business, and makes a recommendation to the Board of Directors.

Our executive compensation program consists of a mix of compensation elements that balance achievement of our short-term goals with our long-term performance. We provide short-term incentive compensation opportunities in the form of annual cash bonuses, which focus on our achievement of annual corporate goals. We also provide long-term incentive compensation opportunities in the form of equity awards.

Our executive compensation program is also designed to incorporate sound practices for compensation governance. Below we summarize such practices.

What We Do:

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What We Don’t Do:

Governance of Executive Compensation Program

Role of the Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors

The Compensation Committee discharges many of the responsibilities of our Board of Directors relating to the compensation of our executive officers, including our NEOs. The Compensation Committee oversees and evaluates our compensation and benefits policies generally, and the compensation plans, policies and practices applicable to our CEO and other executive officers. As described below, the Compensation Committee retains a compensation consultant to provide support in its review and assessment of our executive compensation program.

At the beginning of the year, the Compensation Committee reviews and recommends to the Board of Directors that it approve of the primary elements of compensation—base salary increases, annual cash bonuses, and annual equity awards—for our CEO and members of our Executive Committee (which includes our other NEOs). In addition, the Compensation Committee may deem it advisable to review and approve subsequent compensation opportunities for our NEOs, and may deem it advisable to recommend such opportunities to the Board of Directors for final review and approval.

Compensation-Setting Factors

When reviewing and recommending to the Board of Directors the amount of each compensation element and the target total compensation opportunity for our NEOs, the Compensation Committee considers the following factors:

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These factors provide the framework for compensation decisions for each of our executive officers, including our NEOs. The Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors, as applicable, do not assign relative weights or rankings to these factors, and do not consider any single factor as determinative in the compensation of our executive officers. Rather, the Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors, as applicable, rely on their own knowledge and judgment in assessing these factors and making compensation decisions.

Role of Management

In discharging its responsibilities, the Compensation Committee works with management, including our CEO. Our management assists the Compensation Committee by providing information on corporate and individual performance, market compensation data and management’s perspective on compensation matters.

In addition, at the beginning of each year, our CEO reviews the performance of our other executive officers, including our other NEOs, based on our achievement of our annual corporate goals and each executive officer’s achievement of his or her departmental and individual goals established for the prior year and his or her overall performance during that year. The Compensation Committee solicits and reviews our CEO’s recommendations for base salary increases, annual cash bonuses, annual long-term incentive compensation and other compensation opportunities for our other executive officers, including our other NEOs, and considers our CEO’s recommendations in determining such compensation.

Role of Compensation Consultant

The Compensation Committee engages an external compensation consultant to assist it by providing information, analysis and other advice relating to our executive compensation program. Since 2016 the Compensation Committee has engaged a third-party compensation consultant, Radford, an Aon Hewitt company (“Radford”) to advise on executive compensation matters. For 2018, the Compensation Committee again engaged Radford as its compensation consultant to advise on executive compensation matters including:

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Radford reports directly to the Compensation Committee and to the Compensation Committee chairman. Radford also coordinates with our management for data collection and job matching for our executive officers. Radford did not provide any other services to us in 2018. The Compensation Committee has evaluated Radford’s independence pursuant to the listing standards of the relevant NASDAQ and SEC rules and has determined that no conflict of interest has arisen as a result of the work performed by Radford.

Role of Market Data

For purposes of comparing our executive compensation against the competitive market, the Compensation Committee reviews and considers the compensation levels and practices of a group of peer companies. This compensation peer group consists of public biotechnology companies that are similar to us in terms of revenue, market capitalization, stage of development, geographical location and number of employees. The Compensation Committee reviews our compensation peer group at least annually and makes adjustments to our peer group if necessary, taking into account changes in both our business and our peer companies’ businesses.

In December 2017, the Compensation Committee, with the assistance of Radford, reviewed and updated our compensation peer group considering the acquisition of certain peer companies, the increase in our market capitalization, and the increase in our headcount, as reflected in the following criteria:

Based on a review of the analysis prepared by Radford, the Compensation Committee approved the updated compensation peer group below for 2018.

The Compensation Committee uses market data—from our compensation peer group and from the Radford Global Life Sciences Compensation survey—as one factor in evaluating whether the compensation for our executive officers is competitive in the market. The Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors, as applicable, also rely on their own knowledge and judgment in evaluating market data and making compensation decisions.

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Primary Elements of Executive Compensation Program

To achieve our compensation objectives, we provide executives with a total compensation package consisting primarily of the following fixed and variable compensation elements:

We do not have a specific policy regarding the percentage allocation between short-term and long-term, or fixed and variable, compensation elements.

Our executive officers, including our NEOs, are also eligible to participate in our standard employee benefit plans, such as our retirement, health and welfare benefits plans, on the same basis as our other employees. In addition, as described below, our executive officers, including our NEOs, are entitled to certain change-in-control payments and benefits, and our CEO is also entitled to certain termination payments and benefits not in connection with a change in control.

Base Salary

We pay base salaries to our executive officers, including our NEOs, as the fixed portion of their compensation to provide them with a reasonable degree of financial certainty, and to attract and retain top-performing individuals. At the time of hire, base salaries are determined for our executive officers, including our NEOs. Typically, at the beginning of each year, the Compensation Committee reviews base salaries for our executive officers, including our NEOs, to determine if an increase is appropriate. In addition, base salaries may be adjusted in the event of a promotion or significant change in responsibilities.

2018 Base Salary

In January 2018, the Compensation Committee reviewed the base salaries of our executive officers, including our NEOs. The Compensation Committee considered the factors described above under “Compensation-Setting Factors,” including an analysis prepared by Radford. Thereafter, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board of Directors to adjust the annual base salaries of our NEOs set forth below, effective as of January 1, 2018, and the Board of Directors approved that recommendation.

The actual base salaries paid to our NEOs in 2018 are set forth in the “Summary Compensation Table” below.

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Annual Cash Bonuses

We provide short-term incentive compensation opportunities to our executive officers, including our NEOs, in the form of annual cash bonuses to drive our short-term success. The annual cash bonus review provides that:

The Compensation Committee may also make certain immaterial rounding adjustments to the annual cash bonuses.

Corporate Performance Goals

At the beginning of each year, the Compensation Committee, after reviewing management’s proposal, establishes the annual corporate performance goals that it believes will be the most significant drivers of our short-term and long-term success. The corporate performance goals include target achievement dates based on calendar quarters. The Compensation Committee then recommends to the Board of Directors that it approve of the proposed corporate performance goals. Each corporate performance goal has a percentage weighting, and may include an additional percentage weighting for overachievement, based on the Compensation Committee’s assessment of the goal’s relative significance. Each executive officer, including each NEO, is eligible to receive an annual performance-based cash bonus based primarily on achievement of corporate performance goals as assessed by our Compensation Committee and Board of Directors with input on individual performance achievement from our Chief Executive Officer. Each executive officer, including each NEO, has a target annual bonus award amount, expressed as a percentage of each NEO’s base salary then in effect. After the fiscal year is completed, the Compensation Committee reviews actual performance against the stated goals and determines subjectively what it believes to be the appropriate level of cash bonus, if any, for our NEOs.

At the beginning of the year after the corporate performance goals are established, the Compensation Committee, after reviewing management’s self-assessment, evaluates our achievement of the prior year’s corporate performance goals, and our overall success in the prior year, and determines our total percentage achievement level. Our CEO evaluates the other executive officers’, including the other NEOs’, achievement of their prior year’s individual performance goals, and makes recommendations for total percentage achievement level. The Compensation Committee considers our CEO’s recommendations, and independently reviews and approves the total percentage achievement level for each of the other executive officers, including our other NEOs.

For 2018, the actual bonus amounts for our NEOs were reviewed and approved by our Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors.

Target Annual Bonuses

At the beginning of each year, the Compensation Committee reviews the annual target bonuses for our executive officers, including our NEOs and, if appropriate, makes a recommendation to the Board of Directors to adjust the annual target bonus for our NEOs. The Compensation Committee considers the factors described

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above and benchmarking analyses prepared by Radford, with an emphasis on market data from our compensation peer group for comparable positions. Target annual bonuses are the same for executive officers, including our NEOs, who are at the same level, and represent a specific percentage of annual base salary.

2018 Target Annual Bonus

In January 2018, the Compensation Committee reviewed the target annual bonuses of our executive officers, including our NEOs. The Compensation Committee considered the factors described in the “Annual Cash Bonus” above as well as the benchmarking analyses prepared by Radford, particularly the market data from the companies in the compensation peer group. Thereafter, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board of Directors to approve of the 2018 target annual bonuses of our NEOs below, and the Board of Directors accepted that recommendation and approved the same.

2018 Corporate Performance Goals

In December 2017, the Compensation Committee and the Board of Directors approved our 2018 annual corporate performance goals and weightings, as summarized below.

2018 Annual Cash Bonuses

In January 2019, the Compensation Committee evaluated our achievement of the 2018 corporate performance goals, considering whether we had achieved each goal, the weighting established for each goal, management’s self-assessment, and our overall corporate performance in 2018. The Compensation Committee determined that we successfully achieved each of the 2018 corporate performance goals up to 140% achievement. Thereafter, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board of Directors the foregoing, and the Board accepted that recommendation and approved the same.

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The table below sets forth the target annual cash bonus each NEO was eligible to earn and the actual bonus amount earned by our NEOs for 2018.

Long-Term Incentive Compensation

We view long-term incentive compensation in the form of equity awards as an important element of our executive compensation program. The value of equity awards is directly related to stock price appreciation over time, which incentivizes our executive officers to achieve long-term corporate goals and create long-term value for our shareholders. Equity awards also help us attract and retain top-performing executive officers in a competitive market.

At the time of hire, equity awards are granted to our executive officers, including our NEOs. In addition, at the beginning of each year, the Compensation Committee typically reviews the equity awards for our executive officers, including our NEOs, and determines the amounts of the annual equity awards it deems reasonable and appropriate based on the factors described above under “Compensation-Setting Factors” as well as the benchmarking analyses prepared by Radford. The amount is the same for each of our executive officers, including our NEOs, who are at the same level. In addition, the Compensation Committee may deem it advisable to grant subsequent equity awards to our executive officers, in the event of a promotion or significant change in responsibilities.

2019 Annual Equity Awards Based on 2018 Performance

The stock options vest, and become exercisable, over a four-year period, with 1/48^th of the underlying shares vesting on a monthly basis after the vesting commencement date, so that all of the underlying shares will be vested on the date four years after the vesting commencement date, so long as the NEO remains an employee or other service provider (including a consultant) of our company or any subsidiary thereof on such vesting dates. The restricted stock units vest in three equal annual installments over a three-year period following the vesting commencement date.

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Other Employee Benefits

Health and Welfare Benefits

Our executive officers, including our NEOs, are eligible to participate in the same employee benefit plans that are generally available to all of our employees, subject to the satisfaction of certain eligibility requirements, such as medical, dental, and life and disability insurance plans. We pay, on behalf of our employees, the premiums for health, life and disability insurance.

401(k) Savings Plan

Our U.S. executive officers, including our NEOs, are eligible to participate in a tax-qualified retirement plan (the “401(k) Plan”) on the same basis as our other employees. The 401(k) Plan provides eligible U.S. employees with an opportunity to save for retirement on a tax advantaged basis. Eligible employees are able to defer eligible compensation subject to applicable annual Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) limits. Employees’ pre-tax contributions are allocated to each participant’s individual account and are then invested in selected investment alternatives according to the participants’ directions. Employees are fully vested in their contributions. Our 401(k) Plan is intended to be qualified under Section 401(a) of the Code with our 401(k) Plan’s related trust intended to be tax exempt under Section 501(a) of the Code. As a tax-qualified retirement plan, contributions to our 401(k) Plan and earnings and matching amounts on those contributions are not taxable to the employees until distributed from our 401(k) Plan. We have the ability to make matching contributions under the 401(k) plan and contributed approximately $0.6 million in matching contributions for 2018.

Pension Plan

We participate in a retirement plan, or the Pension Plan, organized through enrollment in an independent collective foundation that covers our employees in Switzerland, including Dr. Novak. The assets are invested by the collective foundation in a diversified portfolio that respects the requirements of the Swiss Law on Occupational Retirement, Survivors and Disability Pension Plans, or BVG. Under the Pension Plan, both we and the employee share the costs equally. The structure of the Pension Plan and the legal provisions of the BVG mean that we are exposed to actuarial risks. The main risks are investment risk, interest risk, disability risk and the risk of longevity. Through the affiliation to a collective foundation, we have minimized these risks, since they are shared between a much greater number of participants.

The collective foundation is governed by a foundation board. The board is made up of an equal number of employee and employer representatives of the different affiliated companies. We have no direct influence on the investment strategy of the collective foundation. We cannot determine the benefits or how they are financed directly. The foundation board of the collective foundation is responsible for defining the investment strategy, for making changes to the pension fund regulations and in particular, also for defining the financing of the pension benefits.

The old age benefits are based on retirement savings for each employee, coupled with annual retirement credits and interest (there is no possibility to credit negative interest). At retirement age, the insured members can choose whether to take a pension for life, which includes a spouse’s pension, or a lump sum. In addition to retirement benefits, the plan benefits also include disability and death benefits. Insured members may also buy into the scheme to improve their pension provision up to the maximum amount permitted under the rules of the plan and may withdraw funds early for the purchase of a residential property for their own use subject to limitations under Swiss law. On leaving employment with us, retirement savings are transferred to the pension institution of the new employer or to a vested benefits institution. This type of benefit may result in pension payments varying considerably between individual years. In defining the benefits, the minimum requirements of the BVG and its implementing provisions must be observed. The BVG defines the minimum pensionable salary and the minimum retirement credits. In Switzerland, the minimum interest rate applicable to these minimum retirement savings is set by the Swiss Federal Council at least once every two years. The 2018 rate was 1.00% and is unchanged for 2019.

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Special Perquisites

We do not provide special perquisites to our executive officers, including our NEOs.

Employment Arrangements with our NEOs

We have entered into employment agreements with each of our NEO’s in connection with their employment with us. These employment agreements provide for “at will” employment.

Samarth Kulkarni. In October 2017, we entered into a second amended and restated employment agreement with Dr. Kulkarni. As of March 15, 2019, Dr. Kulkarni receives an annual base salary in an amount equal to $550,200, and Dr. Kulkarni’s annual target bonus is currently set at not less than 55% of his salary. Dr. Kulkarni is also eligible to participate in our employee benefit plans on the same terms as other executives.

Under Dr. Kulkarni’s employment agreement, in the case of a termination by us without cause or by Dr. Kulkarni for good reason (in each case, as defined under the employment agreement), he is entitled to twelve months’ notice, or the notice period. During such notice period, and subject to Dr. Kulkarni’s execution of a release of claims in favor of us, Dr. Kulkarni would continue to receive base salary, benefits and, except to the extent the applicable equity award agreements provided otherwise, continued vesting during such period and would be entitled to receive an amount equal to his target bonus for the year in which the termination occurs, prorated based upon the number of days in the notice period.

During the notice period, Dr. Kulkarni will be placed on garden leave on the 15^th day following receipt of the notice (or such earlier date as we may determine in its sole discretion), and we will be required to release Dr. Kulkarni from his working obligations for the remainder of the notice period. During this period of garden leave, Dr. Kulkarni may enter into other employment or consulting arrangements and accept board positions with other companies. However, Dr. Kulkarni will continue to be entitled to all compensation under his employment agreement through the garden leave period.

In the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Dr. Kulkarni for good reason, in each case, that occurs on or within 12 months following a change in control, all vesting or similar restrictions on any equity awards held by Dr. Kulkarni will vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable upon the date of such termination, subject to his execution of a release. However, in the event we determine at the time of the change in control, based upon an opinion of counsel, that the acceleration described in the preceding sentence is not permissible under applicable law, all stock options and stock-based awards held by Dr. Kulkarni as of the date of the change in control, would vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the date of the change in control.

Rodger Novak. In December 2017, in connection with his transition from Chief Executive Officer to President, we entered into an employment agreement with Dr. Novak. Under this agreement, until December 1, 2018, Dr. Novak continued to receive his annual base salary in an amount in CHF equivalent to $517,060. Starting on December 1, 2018, we will pay Dr. Novak a base salary in CHF equivalent to $125,500. Dr. Novak is no longer eligible for annual performance bonuses under his employment agreement. Dr. Novak is also eligible to participate in our employee benefit plans on the same terms as other executives. Dr. Novak will continue to vest in his equity awards until November 30, 2018, and thereafter, such awards shall be amended and shall continue to vest on the original vesting schedule, subject to his continued service, but at the rate of 50% of the amounts originally scheduled to vest on any one vesting date, and the original vesting schedule will be extended to reflect the amended schedule.

Under Dr. Novak’s employment agreement, Dr. Novak is entitled to two months’ notice, or the notice period, in the case of an ordinary termination. If Dr. Novak’s employment is terminated by us for unjustified cause or by Dr. Novak for justified cause, in each case, on or within 18 months following a change in control,

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then fifty percent of the unvested equity held by Dr. Novak as of December 1, 2018 shall accelerate and vest in full. However, in the event we determine at the time of the change in control, based upon an opinion of counsel, that the acceleration described in the preceding sentences is not permissible under applicable law, all stock options and stock-based awards held by Dr. Novak as of the date of the change in control, shall vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the date of the change in control.

Tony W. Ho. In August 2017, and we entered into an employment agreement with Dr. Ho. As of March 15, 2019, Dr. Ho receives an annual base salary in an amount equal to $431,575, and Dr. Ho’s annual target bonus is currently set at not less than 45% of his salary. Dr. Ho is also eligible to participate in our employee benefit plans on the same terms as other executives.

Under Dr. Ho’s employment agreement, in the case of a termination by us without cause or by Dr. Ho for good reason (in each case, as defined under the employment agreement), he is entitled to six months’ notice, or the notice period; provided, that, in the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Dr. Ho for good reason that occurs within 12 months following a change in control, the notice period shall be 12 months. During such notice period, and subject to Dr. Ho’s execution of a release of claims in favor of us, Dr. Ho would continue to receive base salary, benefits and continued vesting during such period and would be entitled to receive an amount equal to his target bonus for the year in which the termination occurs, prorated based upon the number of days in the notice period.

During the notice period, Dr. Ho will be placed on garden leave on the 15^th day following receipt of the notice (or such earlier date as we may determine in its sole discretion), and we will be required to release Dr. Ho from his working obligations for the remainder of the notice period. During this period of garden leave, Dr. Ho may enter into other employment or consulting arrangements and accept board positions with other companies. However, Dr. Ho will continue to be entitled to all compensation under his employment agreement through the garden leave period.

In the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Dr. Ho for good reason, in each case, that occurs on or within 12 months following a change in control, all vesting or similar restrictions on any equity awards held by Dr. Ho will vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable upon the date of such termination, subject to his execution of a release. However, in the event we determine at the time of the change in control, based upon an opinion of counsel, that the acceleration described in the preceding sentence is not permissible under applicable law, all stock options and stock-based awards held by Dr. Ho as of the date of the change in control, would vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the date of the change in control.

James R. Kasinger. In May 2017, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Kasinger. As of March 15, 2019, Mr. Kasinger receives an annual base salary in an amount equal to $376,900, and Mr. Kasinger’s annual target bonus is currently set at 40% of his annual base salary. Mr. Kasinger is also eligible to participate in our employee benefit plans on the same terms as other executives.

Under Mr. Kasinger’s employment agreement, in the case of a termination by us without cause or by Mr. Kasinger for good reason (in each case, as defined under the employment agreement), he is entitled to six months’ notice, or the notice period; provided, that, in the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Mr. Kasinger for good reason that occurs within 12 months following a change in control, the notice period shall be 12 months. During such notice period, and subject to Mr. Kasinger’s execution of a release of claims in favor of us, Mr. Kasinger would continue to receive base salary, benefits and continued vesting during such period and would be entitled to receive an amount equal to his target bonus for the year in which the termination occurs, prorated based upon the number of days in the notice period.

During the notice period, Mr. Kasinger will be placed on garden leave on the 15^th day following receipt of the notice (or such earlier date as we may determine in its sole discretion), and we will be required to release Mr. Kasinger from his working obligations for the remainder of the notice period. During this period of garden

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leave, Mr. Kasinger may enter into other employment or consulting arrangements and accept board positions with other companies. However, Mr. Kasinger will continue to be entitled to all compensation under his employment agreement through the garden leave period.

In the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Mr. Kasinger for good reason, in each case, that occurs on or within 12 months following a change in control, all vesting or similar restrictions on any equity awards held by Mr. Kasinger will vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable upon the date of such termination, subject to his execution of a release. However, in the event we determine at the time of the change in control, based upon an opinion of counsel, that the acceleration described in the preceding sentence is not permissible under applicable law, all stock options and stock-based awards held by Mr. Kasinger as of the date of the change in control, would vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the date of the change in control.

Michael J. Tomsicek. In November 2017, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Tomsicek. As of March 15, 2019, Mr. Tomsicek receives an annual base salary in an amount equal to $394,250, and Mr. Tomsicek’s annual target bonus is currently set at 40% of his annual base salary. Mr. Tomsicek is also eligible to participate in our employee benefit plans on the same terms as other executives.

Under Mr. Tomsicek’s employment agreement, in the case of a termination by us without cause or by Mr. Tomsicek for good reason (in each case, as defined under the employment agreement), he is entitled to six months’ notice, or the notice period; provided, that, in the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Mr. Tomsicek for good reason that occurs within 12 months following a change in control, the notice period shall be 12 months. During such notice period, and subject to Mr. Tomsicek’s execution of a release of claims in favor of us, Mr. Tomsicek would continue to receive base salary, benefits and continued vesting during such period and would be entitled to receive an amount equal to his target bonus for the year in which the termination occurs, prorated based upon the number of days in the notice period.

During the notice period, Mr. Tomsicek will be placed on garden leave on the 15^th day following receipt of the notice (or such earlier date as we may determine in its sole discretion), and we will be required to release Mr. Tomsicek from his working obligations for the remainder of the notice period. During this period of garden leave, Mr. Tomsicek may enter into other employment or consulting arrangements and accept board positions with other companies. However, Mr. Tomsicek will continue to be entitled to all compensation under his employment agreement through the garden leave period.

In the case of a notice of termination by us without cause or by Mr. Tomsicek for good reason, in each case, that occurs on or within 12 months following a change in control, all vesting or similar restrictions on any equity awards held by Mr. Tomsicek will vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable upon the date of such termination, subject to his execution of a release. However, in the event we determine at the time of the change in control, based upon an opinion of counsel, that the acceleration described in the preceding sentence is not permissible under applicable law, all stock options and stock-based awards held by Mr. Tomsicek as of the date of the change in control, would vest and become exercisable or nonforfeitable as of the date of the change in control.

Other Agreements

Employee Confidentiality, Non-Competition, Non-solicitation And Assignment Agreements

Each of our NEOs has entered into an agreement with respect to confidential information and assignment of inventions. Among other things, this agreement obligates each NEO to refrain from disclosing any of our proprietary information received during the course of employment and to assign to us any inventions conceived or developed during the course of employment. In addition, our NEOs are also subject to certain non-competition and/or non-solicitation obligations as set forth in their respective employment agreements.

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Indemnification Agreements

We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our directors and executive officers. In addition, subject to Swiss law, Article 29 of our Articles of Association provides for indemnification of the existing and former members of the Board of Directors, executive management and their heirs, executors and administrators, against liabilities arising in connection with the performance of their duties in such capacity, and permits us to advance the expenses of defending any act, suit or proceeding to our directors and executive management. Furthermore, under general principles of Swiss employment law, an employer may be required to indemnify an employee against losses and expenses incurred by such employee in the proper execution of their duties under the employment agreement with the employer.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Other Compensation Policies and Practices

Equity Award Grant Policy

We have adopted an equity award grant policy that sets forth the process and timing for us to follow when we grant equity awards to our employees, including our executive officers, or advisors or consultants to us pursuant to any of our equity compensation plans. Pursuant to the policy, all grants of equity awards must be approved in advance by, as applicable, our Board of Directors, the Compensation Committee or, subject to the delegation requirements in the policy, our CEO.

In addition, our equity award grant policy sets forth the manner in which our equity awards will be priced. The dollar value of restricted stock and restricted stock units will be determined by multiplying the number of shares of our common stock underlying the award by the closing market price on the NASDAQ Global Market of a share of our common stock on the effective date of grant. The exercise price of all stock options will be at least equal to the closing market price on the NASDAQ Global Market of our common shares on the effective date of grant.

Policy Prohibiting Hedging and Pledging

Our Insider Trading Policy prohibits our executive officers, the non-employee members of our Board of Directors and certain designated employees who in the course of the performance of their duties have access to material, nonpublic information regarding our company from engaging in the following transactions:

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As of the date of this proxy statement, none of our NEOs had previously sought or obtained approval from the Audit Committee to engage in any hedging or pledging transaction involving our securities.

Tax and Accounting Considerations

Deductibility of Executive Compensation

Generally, Section 162(m) of the Code (“Section 162(m)”) disallows a federal income tax deduction for public corporations of remuneration in excess of $1 million paid in any fiscal year to certain specified executive officers. For taxable years beginning before January 1, 2018 (i) these executive officers consisted of a public corporation’s chief executive officer and up to three other executive officers (other than the chief financial officer) whose compensation is required to be disclosed to shareholders under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 because they are our most highly-compensated executive officers and (ii) qualifying “performance-based compensation” was not subject to this deduction limit if specified requirements are met.

Pursuant to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which was signed into law on December 22, 2017 (the “Tax Act”), for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the remuneration of a public corporation’s chief financial officer is also subject to the deduction limit. In addition, subject to certain transition rules (which apply to remuneration provided pursuant to written binding contracts which were in effect on November 2, 2017 and which are not subsequently modified in any material respect), for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, the exemption from the deduction limit for “performance-based compensation” is no longer available. Consequently, for fiscal years beginning after December 31, 2017, all remuneration in excess of $1 million paid to a specified executive will not be deductible.

In designing our executive compensation program and determining the compensation of our executive officers, including our NEOs, the Compensation Committee considers a variety of factors, including the potential impact of the Section 162(m) deduction limit. However, the Compensation Committee will not necessarily limit executive compensation to that which is or may be deductible under Section 162(m). The deductibility of some types of compensation depends upon the timing of an executive officer’s vesting or exercise of previously granted rights. Further, interpretations of and changes in the tax laws, and other factors beyond the Compensation Committee’s control also affect the deductibility of compensation. The Compensation Committee will consider various alternatives to preserving the deductibility of compensation payments and benefits to the extent consistent with its compensation goals.

To maintain flexibility to compensate our executive officers in a manner designed to promote our short-term and long-term corporate goals, the Compensation Committee has not adopted a policy that all compensation must be deductible. The Compensation Committee believes that our shareholders’ interests are best served if its discretion and flexibility in awarding compensation is not restricted in order to allow such compensation to be consistent with the goals of our executive compensation program, even though some compensation awards may result in non-deductible compensation expense.

Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation

We follow the Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Codification Topic 718 (“FASB ASC Topic 718”) for our stock-based compensation awards. FASB ASC Topic 718 requires us to measure the compensation expense for all share-based payment awards made to our employees and non-employee members of our Board of Directors, including stock options to purchase shares of our common stock and other stock awards, based on the grant date “fair value” of these awards. This calculation is performed for accounting purposes and reported in the executive compensation tables required by the federal securities laws, even though the recipient of the awards may never realize any value from their awards.

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Taxation of “Parachute” Payments

Sections 280G and 4999 of the Code provide that executive officers and directors who hold significant equity interests and certain other service providers may be subject to significant additional U.S. taxes if they receive payments or benefits in connection with a change in control of the company that exceeds certain prescribed limits, and that the company (or a successor) may forfeit a deduction on the amounts subject to this additional tax. We have not agreed to provide any executive officer, including any NEO, with a “gross-up” or other reimbursement payment for any tax liability that the executive officer might owe as a result of the application of Sections 280G or 4999 of the Code.

Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code

Section 409A of the Code imposes additional significant taxes in the event that an executive officer, director or service provider receives “deferred compensation” that does not satisfy the requirements of Section 409A of the Code. Although we do not maintain a traditional nonqualified deferred compensation plan, Section 409A of the Code does apply to certain severance arrangements, bonus arrangements and equity awards. We structure all our severance arrangements, bonus arrangements and equity awards in a manner to either avoid the application of Section 409A or, to the extent doing so is not possible, to comply with the applicable requirements of Section 409A of the Code.

NEO Compensation Tables

Summary Compensation Table

The following table sets forth information regarding total compensation awarded to, earned by and paid to each of our NEOs during the fiscal years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, to the extent he was a NEO in such year.

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Grants of Plan-Based Awards for Fiscal Year 2018

The following table sets forth the individual awards made to each of our NEOs during 2018. For a description of the types of awards indicated below, please see our “Compensation Discussion and Analysis” above:

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Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year End

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to outstanding equity awards held by each of our NEOs as of December 31, 2018.

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Option Exercises and Stock Vested in Fiscal Year 2018

The following table sets forth the number of shares acquired and the value realized upon exercises of stock options and vesting of RSUs during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 by each of our NEOs.

Potential Payments on Termination or Change in Control

Under the terms of the employment agreements with our NEOs, as described above, each NEO is entitled to receive certain change-in-control payments and benefits if the NEO is terminated by us or our acquirer or successor without cause or resigns for good reason (as such terms are defined in the employment agreements), in either case, within stipulated periods after the consummation of a sale event, subject to a NEO’s execution and non-revocation of a severance agreement, including a general release of claims. The following table

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quantifies the potential payments that would have become due to our NEOs assuming that one of the triggering events described under their respective employment agreements occurred as of December 31, 2018.

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COMPENSATION COMMITTEE REPORT

The following Compensation Committee Report is not considered proxy solicitation material and is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in any of our filings made under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Exchange Act that might incorporate our filings under those statutes, the Compensation Committee Report shall not be incorporated by reference into any of our prior filings or into any of our future filings under those statutes.

The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors has reviewed and discussed the Compensation Discussion and Analysis required by Item 402(b) of Regulation S-K with the Company’s management. Based on this review and discussion, the Compensation Committee recommended to the Board of Directors, and the Board of Directors approved, that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting and incorporated by reference in the Company’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

By the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of CRISPR Therapeutics AG.

Thomas Woiwode, Ph.D., Chairman

Pablo Cagnoni, M.D.

Simeon George, M.D.

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DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

Our Board of Directors adopted a non-employee director compensation policy, which became effective upon the closing of our initial public offering in October 2016. Prior to that time, we did not have a formal non-employee director compensation policy. The non-employee director compensation policy is designed to provide a total compensation package that enables us to attract and retain, on a long-term basis, high caliber non-employee directors. Under the non-employee director compensation policy, our non-employee directors are compensated as follows:

The stock options granted to our non-employee directors will have an exercise price equal to the fair market value of our common shares on the date of grant and will expire ten years after the date of grant. The initial stock options granted to new non-employee directors will vest in equal monthly installments over a three-year period following the grant date, subject to such director’s continued service on the Board of Directors. The annual stock options granted to our non-employee directors will vest in full upon the earlier of the first anniversary of the date of grant or the date of the following annual general meeting of shareholders, subject to such director’s continued service on the Board of Directors. Any initial stock options and annual stock options granted to each of our non-employee directors will automatically accelerate and become fully vested and exercisable upon the non-employee director’s death or disability or upon a sale event (as defined in the equity plan).

All cash fees will be paid quarterly, in arrears, or upon the earlier resignation or removal of the non-employee director. The amount of each payment will be prorated for any portion of a quarter that a non-employee director is not serving on our Board of Directors, based on the number of calendar days served by such non-employee director.

Each non-employee director is also entitled to reimbursement for reasonable travel and other expenses incurred in connection with attending meetings of the Board of Directors and any committee on which he or she serves.

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Director Compensation Table

The following table sets forth a summary of the compensation for our non-employee directors during 2018. Dr. Kulkarni, our Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Novak, our President, were employees during year 2018 and received no additional compensation for their service as members of our Board of Directors. The compensation received by Drs. Kulkarni and Novak, as named executive officers of our company, is presented in “Executive Compensation—Summary Compensation Table—2018.”

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SECURITIES AUTHORIZED FOR ISSUANCE UNDER EQUITY COMPENSATION PLANS

The following table provides information about the securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2018. As of December 31, 2018, we had four equity compensation plans, each of which was approved by our shareholders: the 2015 Stock Option and Grant Plan, or 2015 Plan, the Amended and Restated 2016 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, or 2016 Plan, and the 2016 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or 2016 ESPP, and the 2018 Stock Option and Incentive Plan, or 2018 Plan.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

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REPORT OF THE AUDIT COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Our Audit Committee has reviewed our audited consolidated financial statements and the statutory financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 and discussed them with our management and our independent registered public accounting firm, Ernst & Young LLP and our statutory auditor, Ernst & Young AG.

Our Audit Committee has also received from, and discussed with, Ernst & Young LLP various communications that Ernst & Young LLP is required to provide to our Audit Committee, including the matters required to be discussed by the statement on Auditing Standard No. 1301, “Communication with Audit Committees,” as adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

In addition, Ernst & Young LLP provided our Audit Committee with the written disclosures and the letter required by applicable requirements of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding the independent registered public accounting firm’s communications with the Audit Committee concerning independence, and has discussed with the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm their independence.

Based on the review and discussions referred to above, our Audit Committee recommended to our Board of Directors that the audited consolidated financial statements be included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

By the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of CRISPR Therapeutics AG.

Kurt von Emster, Chair

Ali Behbahani, M.D.

Simeon J. George, M.D.

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MATTERS TO BE VOTED ON

Proposal 1: Approval of the Annual Report, the Consolidated Financial Statements and the Statutory Financial Statements of CRISPR Therapeutics AG

Explanation

The consolidated financial statements and the statutory financial statements of CRISPR Therapeutics AG for the year ended December 31, 2018 are contained in the Company’s Annual Report, which has been made available to all registered shareholders on or before the date of mailing of this proxy statement. The Annual Report also contains the consolidated and statutory financial statements including the reports to these statements of the Company’s statutory auditor, the Company’s Compensation Report prepared in compliance with the Swiss Ordinance Against Excessive Compensation by Public Corporations (the “Minder Ordinance”) and the statutory auditor’s report on the Compensation Report, additional information on the Company’s business, organization and strategy, organization and strategy. Copies of the Annual Report are available on the Internet at ir.crisprtx.com.

Under Swiss law, the Annual Report, the consolidated financial statements and the statutory financial statements of Swiss companies must be submitted to shareholders for approval or disapproval at each annual general meeting. In the event of a negative vote on this proposal by shareholders, the Board of Directors will call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for reconsideration of this proposal by shareholders.

Ernst & Young AG, as the Company’s statutory auditors, issued an unqualified recommendation to the Annual General Meeting that the consolidated and statutory financial statements of CRISPR Therapeutics AG for the year ended December 31, 2018 be approved. Ernst & Young AG expressed their opinion that the “consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position, the results of operations and the cash flows in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP) and comply with Swiss law.”

Further Ernst & Young AG expressed their opinion and confirmed that the consolidated financial statements, the statutory financial statements and the proposed appropriation of financial results comply with Swiss law and the Articles of Association of CRISPR Therapeutics AG. Ernst & Young AG also expressed their opinion that the Compensation Report complies with the Minder Ordinance and other applicable Swiss law.

Voting Requirement to Approve Proposal

The affirmative “FOR” vote of a majority of the votes cast in person or by proxy at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, not counting abstentions.

Recommendation

The Board of Directors recommends a vote “FOR” approval of the Annual Report, the consolidated financial statements and the statutory financial statements of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2018.

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Proposal 2: Approval of the Appropriation of Financial Results

Explanation

Under Swiss law, the appropriation of the financial results as set forth in the Company’s statutory financial statements must be submitted to shareholders for approval at each annual general meeting. The Board of Directors proposes to carry forward the net loss resulting from the following appropriation of financial results: