CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers

Item5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of
Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory
Arrangements of Certain Officers

On May4, 2017, CRISPR Therapeutics AG (the Company)
announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, CRISPR Therapeutics,
Inc., had entered into an Amended and Restated Employment
Agreement (the Employment Agreement) with Samarth
Kulkarni, Ph.D., which amended and restated his previous
agreement dated October6,2016. to the Employment Agreement,
Dr.Kulkarni will serve as President of CRISPR Therapeutics, Inc.,
effective May3, 2017. Dr.Kulkarni will continue to serve as the
Chief Business Officer of the Company and acting Principal
Financial Officer.

Dr.Kulkarni, age 38, has served as the Companys Chief Business
Officer since August 2015 and acting Principal Financial Officer
since March21, 2017. Prior to joining the 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.

to the terms of the Employment Agreement, Dr.Kulkarni is entitled
to receive an annual base salary of $415,000, subject to yearly
adjustments as determined by the Companys Board of Directors (the
Board). Dr.Kulkarni is also eligible for an annual
performance bonus of not less than 45% of his annual salary,
subject to the achievement of performance targets determined by
the Board.

In the event the Company elects to terminate Dr.Kulkarnis
employment without cause (as defined in the Employment Agreement)
or Dr.Kulkarni elects to resign with good reason (as defined in
the Employment Agreement), the Employment Agreement extends the
notice period for such termination or resignation from six months
to twelve months. During such notice period, and subject to
Dr.Kulkarnis execution of a release, Dr.Kulkarni shall continue
to be entitled to receive base salary, benefits and continued
vesting during such period and shall 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. Dr.Kulkarni shall also be entitled to receive a
prorated bonus for the year in which the notice of termination is
provided, prorated based upon the number of days actually worked
during such year, and based upon actual performance during such
year.

During the notice period, Dr.Kulkarni shall be placed on garden
leave on the 15^th day
following receipt of the notice (or such earlier date as the
Company shall determine in its sole discretion), and the Company
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 connection with entering into the Employment Agreement,
Dr.Kulkarni will receive a new stock option award for the
purchase of 100,000 common shares, at an exercise price equal to
the fair market value of such shares on the date of grant, which
option shall vest and become exercisable in 48 equal monthly
installments on the final day of each calendar month occurring
after May3, 2017. The first such installment will vest on May31,
2017. The other material terms of Dr.Kulkarnis employment
agreement were not amended.

There are no family relationships between Dr.Kulkarni and any
director or executive officer of the Company.

The foregoing summary of the Employment Agreement is qualified in
its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Employment
Agreement, a copy of which is filed as Exhibit 10.1 to this
Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated herein by
reference.

Item7.01. Regulation FD

On May 4, 2017, the Company issued a press release announcing the
Employment Agreement with Dr. Kulkarni. A copy of the press
release is furnished hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and incorporated into
this Item 7.01 by reference.

The information in this Item 7.01 of Form 8-K, including the
accompanying Exhibit 99.1, shall not be deemed filed for purposes
of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
Exchange Act), or otherwise subject to the liability of such
section, nor shall such information be deemed incorporated by
reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the
Exchange Act, regardless of the general incorporation language of
such filing, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific
reference in such filing.

Item9.01.Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d)Exhibits:

About CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)

Crispr Therapeutics AG is a Switzerland-based gene-editing company. The Company focuses on the development of transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 gene-editing platform. CRISPR/Cas9 can be programmed to cut, edit and correct disease-associated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in a patient’s cell. The location at which the Cas9 molecular scissors cut the DNA to be edited is specified by guide ribonucleic acid (RNA), which is comprised of a crRNA component and a tracrRNA component, either individually or combined together as a single guide RNA. The Company has business operations in London, the United Kingdom, as well as research and development operations in Cambridge, the United States.

CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Recent Trading Information

CRISPR THERAPEUTICS AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) closed its last trading session down -0.39 at 16.21 with 112,886 shares trading hands.