bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) today announced that the Compensation Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors approved inducement grants of stock options to purchase a total of 85,000 shares of common stock and 50,000 restricted stock units (“RSUs”) to a newly hired employee with a grant date of August 2, 2021 (the “Inducement Grants”). The Inducement Grants are subject to the terms and conditions of award agreements covering the grants and the Company’s 2021 Inducement Plan.

The stock options approved under the Inducement Grants have an exercise price per share equal to $25.60, the fair market value on the grant date. The stock options have a 10-year term and vest over four years, with 25% vesting on the one-year anniversary of the employee’s first day of employment with the Company and 1/36 of the remaining shares vesting monthly thereafter, subject to the employee’s continued service with the Company on each such date.

The RSUs approved under the Inducement Grants vest over four years, 25% on the first anniversary of the date of grant and in three equal annual installments for the following three years on the anniversaries of the date of grant.

The Company granted the stock options and RSUs as inducement materials to an individual entering into employment with bluebird bio, Inc. in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

About bluebird bio, Inc.

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE) is bluebird bio is pioneering gene therapy with purpose. From our Cambridge, Mass., headquarters, we’re developing gene and cell therapies for severe genetic diseases and cancer, with the goal that people facing potentially fatal conditions with limited treatment options can live their lives fully. Beyond our labs, we’re working to positively disrupt the healthcare system to create access, transparency and education so that gene therapy can become available to all those who can benefit.

bluebird bio is a human company powered by human stories. We’re putting our care and expertise to work across a spectrum of disorders including cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia and multiple myeloma using three gene therapy technologies: gene addition, cell therapy and (megaTAL-enabled) gene editing.

bluebird bio has additional nests in Seattle, Wash.; Durham, N.C.; and Zug, Switzerland. For more information, visit bluebirdbio.com.

Follow bluebird bio on social media: @bluebirdbio, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

bluebird bio is a trademark of bluebird bio, Inc.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements pertaining to the continued service of an employee and future vesting of inducement grants as well as to our business and operations, including the discovery, development, and commercialization of our product candidates. Such forward-looking statements can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect bluebird bio’s business, particularly those identified in the risk factors discussion in bluebird bio’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, bluebird bio undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210804006016/en/