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

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

Check the appropriate box:

WAVE LIFE SCIENCES LTD.

(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)

(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)

Payment of Filing Fee (Check the appropriate box):

WAVE LIFE SCIENCES LTD.

(Incorporated in the Republic of Singapore)

(Company Registration Number 201218209G)

NOTICE OF 20182019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

TIME: 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time

DATE: August 7, 20188, 2019

PLACE: Wave Life Sciences Ltd., 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138

To Our Shareholders:

You are cordially invited to attend the 20182019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. to be held at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday,Thursday, August 7, 20188, 2019 at 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. In this Notice, we refer to the 20182019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders as the “2018“2019 AGM” and we refer to Wave Life Sciences Ltd. as “Wave,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our.” Details regarding the 20182019 AGM, the business to be conducted at the 20182019 AGM, and information about Wave Life Sciences Ltd. that you should consider when you vote your shares are described in the attached proxy statement.

The 20182019 AGM will be held for the following purposes:

As Special Business

(Ordinary Resolution 1(a))

(Ordinary Resolution 1(b))

(Ordinary Resolution 1(c))

(Ordinary Resolution 1(d))

(Ordinary Resolution 1(e))

(Ordinary Resolution 1(f))

(Ordinary Resolution 1(g))

As Ordinary Business

(Ordinary Resolution 2)

(Ordinary Resolution 3)

As Special Business

at any time to and/or with such persons and upon such terms and conditions, for such purposes and for consideration as our directors may in their sole discretion deem fit, and with such rights or restrictions as our directors may think fit to impose and as are set forth in our Constitution; and

and that such authority, if approved by our shareholders, shall continue in effect until the earlier of the conclusion of our 20192020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders or the expiration of the period within which our 20192020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is required by law to be held;     and     

(Ordinary Resolution 4)

(Ordinary Resolution 5)

“RESOLVED, on anon-binding, advisory basis only, that the compensation paid to the named executive officers of the Company, as disclosed pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Compensation Discussion and Analysis, the compensation tables and the related material disclosed in this proxy statement, is hereby APPROVED.”

Thisnon-binding advisory resolution is being proposed to shareholders as required pursuant to the requirements of Section 14A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the “Exchange Act.” The shareholders’ vote on this proposal is solely advisory andnon-binding in nature, will have no legal effect for purposes of Singapore law and will not be enforceable against our Company or our Board of Directors;

(Non-Binding Advisory Resolution 6)

“RESOLVED, on anon-binding, advisory basis only, that the shareholders recommend that anon-binding, advisory vote to approve the compensation paid to the named executive officers of

the Company be put to shareholders for their consideration with one of the following three frequencies:

Thisnon-binding advisory resolution is being proposed to shareholders as required pursuant to the requirements of Section 14A of the Exchange Act. The shareholders’ vote on this proposal is solely advisory andnon-binding in nature, will have no legal effect for purposes of Singapore law and will not be enforceable against our Company or our Board of Directors; and

(Non-Binding Advisory Resolution 7)

The Board of Directors recommends the approval of each of the first four proposals.six proposals and every year on proposal 7.

All of the above proposals should be read in conjunction with the attached proxy statement, which sets out the specific parameters of the proposals.

Each of the matters to be voted on at the 20182019 AGM (other than Proposals 6 and 7, which are onlynon-binding advisory resolutions) may be passed by ordinary resolution pursuant to our Constitution.

Notes About the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

Eligibility to Vote at 20182019 AGM. The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on June 22, 201817, 2019 as the record date for determining those shareholders who will be entitled to receive copies of this Notice and the attached proxy statement. However, under Singapore law, only registered holders of our ordinary shares (i.e., persons whose names appear on the Register of Members of the Company maintained in accordance with Section 190 of the Singapore Companies Act), or “shareholders of record,” on the date of the 20182019 AGM, August 7, 2018,8, 2019, will be entitled to vote at the 20182019 AGM. If you have sold or transferred any of your ordinary shares after June 22, 201817, 2019 and prior to the 20182019 AGM, you should immediately forward this Notice and the attached proxy statement and proxy card to the purchaser or transferee of such shares, or to the bank, broker or agent through whom the sale of such shares was effected, for onward transmission to the purchaser or transferee. If you hold shares other than in registered form as a shareholder of record, and instead hold your shares as, or through, a participant in DTC (i.e., in “street name”), we understand that in order for your vote to be counted at the 20182019 AGM, you must also have been a holder of shares at, and with effect from, June 22, 2018.17, 2019. As of June 15, 2018,17, 2019, we had 29,293,05034,264,601 ordinary shares issued and outstanding.

Proxies. All shareholders of record as of the date of the 20182019 AGM are cordially invited to attend the 20182019 AGM or appoint a proxy to attend and vote in their place (referred to as a “legal proxy”). A legal proxy need not also be a shareholder of record.Whether or not you plan to attend the 20182019 AGM, or not, we urge you to vote and submit your proxy card by mail in order to ensure the presence of a quorum. A proxy card must be received by Vote Processing, c/o Broadridge, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, NY 11717 not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for holding the 20182019 AGM or within such other time as may be required by the Singapore Companies Act. Completion and submission of the proxy card shall not preclude a shareholder of record from attending and voting at the 20182019 AGM. Any appointment of a legal proxy or proxies will be revoked if a shareholder of record attends and votes in person at the 20182019 AGM, and in such event, we reserve the right to refuse to admit any person or persons appointed under the instrument of proxy or proxies to the meeting.

For the avoidance of doubt, the reference to “proxy” in this Notice does not mean a “legal proxy” entitled under Singapore law to attend and vote on behalf of a shareholder of record. The reference to “soliciting your proxy” means that a shareholder of record may appoint the persons identified on the proxy card as such

shareholder’s legal proxies to vote in accordance with such shareholder’s instructions given via proxy or to authorize such persons to vote freely.

Beneficial or “Street Name” Holders. If your shares are held in “street name” (i.e., in the name of a bank, broker or other shareholder of record), you will receive instructions from the shareholder of record. You must follow the instructions of the shareholder of record in order for your shares to be voted. If your shares are not registered in your own name and you plan to vote your shares in person at the 20182019 AGM, you should contact your broker or agent to obtain a legal proxy or broker’s proxy card and bring it to the 20182019 AGM in order to vote as a legal proxy.

Singapore Audited Accounts. At the 20182019 AGM, our shareholders will have the opportunity to discuss and ask questions regarding our Singapore audited accounts for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,2018, together with the directors’ statement and independent auditors’ report thereon, in compliance with the laws of Singapore. Shareholder approval of our Singapore audited accounts is not being sought by the attached proxy statement and will not be sought at the 20182019 AGM.

When you have finished reading the attached proxy statement, you are urged to vote in accordance with the instructions set forth in the proxy statement. We encourage you to vote by proxy so that your shares will be represented and voted at the 20182019 AGM, whether or not you can attend.

Thank you for your continued support of Wave Life Sciences Ltd.

				BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
June 28, 201826, 2019				Paul B. Bolno, M.D., MBA
				Director, President and Chief Executive Officer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF PROXY MATERIALS

FOR THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 7, 20188, 2019

The Notice, this proxy statement and our 20172018 annual report to shareholders are available for viewing, printing and downloading at https://materials.proxyvote.com/. You can elect to receive distributions of our proxy statements and annual reports to shareholders for future annual general meetings by electronic delivery. For specific instructions on making such an election, please refer to the instructions on the proxy card or voting instruction form.

At no charge, we are providing each person from whom a proxy is solicited a copy of, and access to, our Annual Report on Form10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,2018, as amended, or our “2017“2018 Form10-K.” Additionally, you can find a copy of our 20172018 Form10-K on the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the “SEC,” at www.sec.gov, or in the “For Investors & Media” section of our website at http://ir.wavelifesciences.com/ under the heading “Financial Information.” You may also obtain a printed copy of our 20172018 Form10-K, free of charge, from us by sending a written request to Investor Relations, Wave Life Sciences Ltd., 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 or by email to IR@wavelifesci.com. Exhibits to our 20172018 Form10-K will be provided upon written request and payment of an appropriate processing fee.

The information provided on our website (www.wavelifesciences.com) is referenced in this proxy statement for information purposes only. The information on our website shall not be deemed to be a part of or incorporated by reference into this proxy statement or any other filings we make with the SEC or any solicitation of proxies by us.

ii

WAVE LIFE SCIENCES LTD.

733 CONCORD AVENUE

CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138

PROXY STATEMENT FOR THE WAVE LIFE SCIENCES LTD.

20182019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS

TO BE HELD ON AUGUST 7, 20188, 2019

This proxy statement, along with the accompanying Notice of 20182019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, or the “Notice,” contains information about the 20182019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (including any adjournments or postponements thereof), which we refer to in this proxy statement as the “2018“2019 AGM.” We are holding the 20182019 AGM at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday,Thursday, August 7, 2018,8, 2019, at 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.

In this proxy statement, we refer to Wave Life Sciences Ltd. as “Wave,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” and “our.”

This proxy statement relates to the solicitation of proxies by our Board of Directors for use at the 20182019 AGM.

On or about July 2, 2018,June 28, 2019, we began sending this proxy statement, the Notice and the enclosed proxy card to shareholders of record as of June 22, 2018.17, 2019.

Although not part of this proxy statement, we are also sending, along with this proxy statement, our 20172018 annual report to shareholders, which includes our financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.2018. Except as otherwise stated herein, all monetary amounts in this proxy statement have been presented in U.S. dollars.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS AND VOTING

Why is the Company Soliciting My Proxy?

The Board of Directors of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (the “Board” or our “Board”) is soliciting your proxy to vote at the 20182019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the “2019 AGM”) to be held at 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 on Tuesday,Thursday, August 7, 2018,8, 2019, at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, and any adjournments or postponements of the 20182019 AGM. This proxy statement, along with the Notice, summarizes the purposes of the meeting and the information you need to know to vote at the 20182019 AGM.

We have made available to you on the Internet or have sent you this proxy statement, the Notice, the proxy card, and our 20172018 annual report to shareholders because you owned ordinary shares of Wave Life Sciences Ltd. on the record date for determining those shareholders who will be entitled to receive copies of the Notice and this proxy statement. We began distributing the proxy materials to shareholders on or about July 2, 2018.June 28, 2019.

For the avoidance of doubt, the reference to “proxy” in this proxy statement does not mean a “legal proxy” entitled under Singapore law to attend and vote on behalf of a shareholder of record. The reference to “soliciting your proxy” means that a shareholder of record may appoint the persons identified on the proxy card as such shareholder’s legal proxy to vote in accordance with such shareholder’s instructions given via proxy or to authorize such persons to vote freely.

Who Can Vote?

The Board of Directors has fixed the close of business on June 22, 201817, 2019 as the record date for determining those shareholders who will be entitled to receive copies of the Notice and this proxy statement. However, under Singapore law, only registered holders of our ordinary shares, or “shareholders of record,” on the date of the 20182019 AGM, August 7, 2018,8, 2019, will be entitled to vote at the 20182019 AGM. If you have sold or transferred any of your ordinary shares after the record date of June 22, 201817, 2019 and prior to the 20182019 AGM, you should immediately forward the Notice, this proxy statement and the proxy card to the purchaser or transferee of such shares, or to the bank, broker or agent through whom the sale of such shares was effected, for onward transmission to the purchaser or transferee. If you hold shares other than in registered form as a shareholder of record, and instead hold your shares as, or through, a participant in DTC (i.e., in “street name”), we understand that in order for your vote to be counted at the 20182019 AGM (represented by a shareholder of record), you must also have been a holder of shares at, and with effect from, June 22, 201817, 2019 through the date of the 20182019 AGM. As of June 15, 2018,17, 2019, we had 29,293,05034,264,601 ordinary shares issued and outstanding.

All shareholders of record as of the date of the 20182019 AGM are cordially invited to attend the 20182019 AGM or appoint a legal proxy to attend and vote in their place. A legal proxy need not also be a shareholder of record.Whether or not you plan to attend the 20182019 AGM, or not, we urge you to vote and submit your proxy card by mail in order to ensure the presence of a quorum.A proxy card must be received by Vote Processing, c/o Broadridge, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, NY 11717 not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for holding the 20182019 AGM or within such other time as may be required by the Singapore Companies Act. Completion and submission of the proxy card shall not preclude a shareholder of record from attending and voting at the 20182019 AGM. Any appointment of a legal proxy or proxies will be revoked if a shareholder of record attends the 20182019 AGM in person, and in such event, we reserve the right to refuse to admit any person or persons appointed under the instrument of proxy or proxies to the meeting. Shareholders of record may change or revoke their legal proxies at any time before their shares are voted at the 20182019 AGM. For instructions on how to change or revoke your legal proxy, see “May I Change or Revoke My Proxy?” below.

How Many Votes Do I Have?

Each ordinary share that you own or represent as a legal proxy entitles you to one vote at the 20182019 AGM. The Series A preferred shares of the Company are not entitled to vote on any of the matters being proposed at the 20182019 AGM.

How Do I Vote?

If you are not planning to attend the 20182019 AGM, we urge you to vote by proxy. All shares represented by valid proxies that we receive through this solicitation, and that are not revoked, will be voted in accordance with your instructions on the proxy card. You may specify whether your shares should be voted for, against or abstain for each nominee for director, and whether your shares should be voted for, against or abstain with respect to each of the other proposals. If you properly submit a proxy card without giving specific voting instructions, your shares will be voted in accordance with the Board’s recommendations as noted below, except as described under “Will My Shares be Voted if I Do Not Vote or Provide Voting Instructions?” Voting by proxy will not affect your right to attend the 20182019 AGM. If you are a shareholder of record such that your shares are registered directly in your name through our transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company, N.A., or you have share certificates registered in your name, you may vote:

A proxy card must be received by Vote Processing, c/o Broadridge, 51 Mercedes Way, Edgewood, NY 11717 not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for holding the 20182019 AGM or within such other time as may be required by the Singapore Companies Act.

If your shares are held in “street name” (i.e., in the name of a bank, broker or other shareholder of record), you will receive instructions from the shareholder of record. You must follow the instructions of the shareholder of record in order for your shares to be voted. If your shares are not registered in your own name and you plan to vote your shares in person at the 20182019 AGM, you should contact your broker or agent to obtain a legal proxy or broker’s proxy card and bring it to the 20182019 AGM in order to vote.

How Does the Board of Directors Recommend That I Vote on the Proposals?

The Board of Directors recommends that you vote as follows:

If any other matter is presented at the 20182019 AGM, your proxy card provides that your shares will be voted by the proxy holder listed in the proxy card in accordance with his or her judgment. At the time this proxy

statement was first made available, we knew of no matters that needed to be acted on at the 20182019 AGM, other than those discussed in this proxy statement.

May I Change or Revoke My Proxy?

If you give us your proxy, you may change or revoke it at any time before the 20182019 AGM in any one of the following ways:

Your most current vote is the one that will be counted.

What if I Receive More Than One Proxy Card?

You may receive more than one proxy card if you hold any of our ordinary shares in more than one account, which may be in registered form or held in street name. Please vote in the manner described above under “How Do I Vote?” for each account to ensure that all of your shares are voted.

Will My Shares be Voted if I Do Not Vote or Provide Voting Instructions?

If your shares are registered in your name or if you have share certificates, they will not be counted if you do not vote as described above under “How Do I Vote?” If your shares are held in street name and you do not provide voting instructions to the bank, broker or other nominee that holds your shares as described above, the bank, broker or other nominee that holds your shares has the authority to vote your unvoted shares without receiving instructions from you on allProposal 2:the approval of the proposals to be voted on at the 2018 AGM, other than the electionre-appointment of directors (Proposal 1),KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm and independent Singapore auditor and the approvalauthorization ofnon-employee directors’ compensation (Proposal 3). KPMG’s remuneration. We encourage you to provide voting instructions to your bank, broker or other nominee to ensure your shares will be voted at the 20182019 AGM and in the manner you desire. A “brokernon-vote” will occur if your broker cannot vote your shares on a particular matter because it has not received instructions from you and does not have discretionary voting authority on that matter or because your broker chooses not to vote on a matter for which it does have discretionary voting authority.

What Vote is Required to Approve Each Proposal and How are Votes Counted?

Proposal 2: Approve theRe-Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm and Independent Singapore Auditor and Authorize the Auditor’s Remuneration

The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by holders of ordinary shares voting in person or by proxy at the 20182019 AGM is required to approve there-appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm and our independent Singapore auditor and to authorize the Audit Committee to fix the auditor’s remuneration (meaning the number of shares voted “for” the proposal must exceed the number of shares voted “against” the proposal).

Proposal 5: Approve the 2019 Employee Share Purchase Plan

The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by holders of ordinary shares voting in person or by proxy at the 2019 AGM is required to approve the 2019 Employee Share Purchase Plan (meaning the number of shares voted “for” the proposal must exceed the number of shares voted “against” the proposal).

affirmative votes cast out of the total number of votes cast on this proposal, to be the frequency approved by our shareholders (meaning the option for which the highest number of shares were voted “for” will be considered to be the “approved” option for the purposes of thisnon-binding advisory resolution).

Is Voting Confidential?

We will keep all the proxies, ballots and voting tabulations private. We only let our Inspector of Elections, a representative of Broadridge, examine these documents. Management will not know how you voted on a specific proposal unless it is necessary to meet legal requirements. However, Broadridge will forward to management any written comments you make, either on the proxy card or that you otherwise provide.

Where Can I Find the Voting Results of the 20182019 AGM?

The preliminary voting results will be announced at the 20182019 AGM, and we will publish preliminary results, or final results if available, in a Current Report on Form8-K within four business days after the 20182019 AGM. If final results are unavailable at the time we file the Form8-K, then we will file an amended report on Form8-K to disclose the final voting results within four business days after the final voting results are known.

What Are the Costs of Soliciting these Proxies?

We will pay all of the costs of soliciting these proxies. Our directors and employees may solicit proxies in person or by telephone, fax or email. We will pay these employees and directors no additional compensation for these services. We will ask banks, brokers and other institutions, nominees and fiduciaries to forward these proxy materials to their principals and to obtain authority to execute proxies. We will then reimburse them for their expenses.

What Constitutes a Quorum for the 20182019 AGM?

In order to hold the meeting, there must be a quorum. The presence, in person or by proxy, of at least two shareholders holding in aggregate at least a majority of all issued and outstanding ordinary shares entitled to vote at the 20182019 AGM is necessary to constitute a quorum at the 20182019 AGM. Votes of shareholders of record who are present in person or represented by proxy at the 20182019 AGM, abstentions and brokernon-votes are counted for purposes of determining whether a quorum exists.

Attending the 20182019 AGM

The 20182019 AGM will be held at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday,Thursday, August 7, 20188, 2019 at 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. When you arrive, signs will direct you to the appropriate meeting rooms. You need not attend the 20182019 AGM in person in order to vote, provided that your proxy is present to represent your vote.

Singapore Statutory Financial Statements

Our Singapore audited accounts for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,2018, prepared in conformity with the provisions of the laws of Singapore, and the accompanying directors’ statement and the independent auditors’ report thereon are required under Singapore law and our Constitution to be provided to shareholders for discussion at the 20182019 AGM. We refer to such materials herein collectively as the “Singapore Statutory Financial Statements.” The Singapore Statutory Financial Statements are provided asAppendix A to this proxy statement solely to satisfy this requirement. At the 20182019 AGM, our shareholders will have the opportunity to discuss and ask questions regarding the Singapore Statutory Financial Statements. Shareholder approval of the Singapore Statutory Financial Statements is not being sought by this proxy statement for the 20182019 AGM and will not be sought at the 20182019 AGM. The Singapore Statutory Financial Statements shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC,the “SEC,” nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities“Securities Act,” or under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, or be subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate this information by reference into any such filing.

Emerging Growth Company

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the “JOBS Act.” As an emerging growth company, we have taken advantage of, and may continue to take advantage of, specified reduced disclosure and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include:

We have taken advantage of certain of the exemptions provided under the JOBS Act. We may continue to take advantage of exemptions under the JOBS Act until the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1 billion in annual revenues, we have more than $700 million in market value of our shares held bynon-affiliates, or we issue more than $1 billion ofnon-convertible debt over a three-year period. Under the JOBS Act, we may choose to take advantage of some but not all of these reduced disclosure requirements. We have taken advantage of these reduced disclosure requirements in this proxy statement, and may continue to do so in future filings. Therefore, the information contained herein may be different than the information you receive from other public companies in which you hold stock.

SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF

CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of June 15, 201810, 2019 for (i) the executive officers named in the Summary Compensation Table appearing elsewhere in this proxy statement, (ii) each of our directors and director nominees, (iii) all of our current directors and executive officers as a group, and (iv) each shareholder known by us to own beneficially more than 5% of our ordinary shares. Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC and includes voting or investment power with respect to the securities. We deem ordinary shares that may be acquired by an individual or group within 60 days offollowing June 15, 201810, 2019 pursuant to the exercise of options, the vesting of restricted share units and the conversion of our outstanding Series A preferred shares into ordinary shares to be outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of such individual or group, but such shares are not deemed to be outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person shown in the table. Except as indicated in footnotes to this table, we believe that the shareholders named in this table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all ordinary shares shown to be beneficially owned by them based on information provided to us by these shareholders. Percentage ownership is based on 29,293,05034,261,602 ordinary shares outstanding on June 15, 2018.10, 2019.

(2)

Based on information reported by Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, Ltd., or SNBL,“SNBL,” on Schedule 13D/A filed with the SEC on April 26, 2018.February 20, 2019. Consists of (i) 1,697,467 ordinary shares held by SNBL; (ii) 286,663 ordinary shares held by SNBL USA, Ltd., or SNBL“SNBL USA;” (iii) 1,801,348 Series A preferred shares held by SNBL; and (iv) 2,100,000 Series A preferred shares held by SNBL USA. The Series A preferred shares can be converted at any time on aone-for-one basis into ordinary shares at the discretion of the holder. SNBL USA has pledged 286,663 ordinary shares for the benefit of The Kagoshima Bank, Ltd., or Kagoshima“Kagoshima Bank,” in order to secure the obligations of SNBL under a loan agreement, dated December 28, 2016, between SNBL and Kagoshima Bank. SNBL has pledged 915,464938,846 ordinary shares for the benefit of Kagoshima Bank in order to secure the obligations of SNBL under a loan agreement, dated September 23, 2016,14, 2018, between SNBL and Kagoshima Bank. SNBL has pledged 720,063 ordinary shares for the benefit of Kagoshima Bank and certain other lenders in order to secure the obligations of SNBL under a loan agreement, dated September 15, 2017, between SNBL, Kagoshima Bank and certain other lenders. Ken Takanashi, a member of our Board, of Directors, is a director andan executive officer of SNBL and aan executive officer and director of SNBL USA. SNBL and Mr. Takanashi share voting and dispositive power with respect to such shares and may be deemed to beneficially own such shares. The address of SNBL is St. Luke’s Tower28F, 8-1, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0044, Japan.

MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Board of Directors

Pursuant to our Constitution, there is no maximum number of directors that may hold office at any time. Our Board currently consists of seven members and each of our directors is elected annually.

On June 27, 2018,3, 2019, our Board of Directors accepted the recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and voted to nominate Paul B. Bolno, M.D., MBA, Christian Henry, Peter Kolchinsky, Ph.D., Koji Miura, Adrian Rawcliffe, Ken Takanashi, and Gregory L. Verdine, Ph.D., each currently a director of the Company, for election at the 20182019 AGM. If each such nominee is elected, he will serve on our Board of Directors until our 20192020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and until his successor has been elected and qualified.

Set forth below are the names of the directors and(and who are also all of the persons nominated as directors,directors), their ages as of June 15, 2018,10, 2019, their offices in the Company, if any, their principal occupations or employment for at least the past five years, the length of their tenure as directors and the names of other public companies in which such personsthey hold or have held directorships during the past five years. Additionally,In addition, information about the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that led to our Board of Directors’Board’s conclusion at the time of filing of this proxy statement that each person listed below should serve as a director is set forth below.

Our Board of Directors has reviewed the materiality of any relationship that each of our directors has with the Company, either directly or indirectly. Based upon this review, our Board has determined that the following members of the Board are “independent directors” as defined by the Nasdaq Stock Market: Dr. Kolchinsky and Messrs. Henry, Miura, Rawcliffe and Takanashi.

Paul B. Bolno, M.D., MBA has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since December 2013 and as a director since December 2013.April 2014. Prior to joining us, he served at GlaxoSmithKline from 2009 to 2013 in various roles, including Vice President, Worldwide Business Development—Head of Asia BD and Investments, Head of Global Neuroscience BD, a director of Glaxo Welcome Manufacturing, Pte. Ltd. in Singapore and Vice President, Business Development for the Oncology Business Unit, where he helped establish GlaxoSmithKline’s global oncology business and served as a member of the Oncology Executive Team, Oncology Commercial Board and Cancer Research Executive Team. Prior to GlaxoSmithKline, he served as director of Research at Two River LLC, a health care private equity firm from 2004 to 2009. Dr. Bolno earned a medical degree fromMCP-Hahnemann School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from Drexel University. He was a general surgery resident and cardiothoracic surgery postdoctoral research fellow at Drexel University College of Medicine. We believe that Dr. Bolno’s experience serving as our President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board of Directors and his experience leading biopharmaceutical companies qualify him to serve on our Board of Directors.Board.

Christian Henryhas served as a director since November 2016, and as Chairman of our Board of Directors since October 2017. Mr. Henry also serves on the board of directors of Ginkgo Bioworks, a private synthetic biology company, and Pacific Biosciences, a publicly traded life sciences company. Mr. Henry served as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer of Illumina, Inc. from 2015 through January 2017, and previously served as Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer from 2014 to 2015, Senior Vice President & General Manager Genomic Solutions from 2012 to 2014, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & General Manager Life Sciences from 2010 to 2012, Senior Vice

President, Corporate Development & Chief Financial Officer from 2009 to 2010, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2009, and Vice President & Chief Financial Officer from 2005 to 2006. Prior to joining Illumina, Inc., Mr. Henry served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tickets.com, Inc. from 2003 to 2005. From 1999 to 2003, Mr. Henry served as Vice

President, Finance & Corporate Controller of Affymetrix, Inc. (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2016). In 1997, Mr. Henry joined Nektar Therapeutics (formerly Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc.), as Corporate Controller, and later as its Chief Accounting Officer from 1997 to 1999. In 1996, Mr. Henry served as General Accounting Manager of Sugen, Inc. Mr. Henry began his career in 1992 at Ernst & Young LLP, where he was a Senior Accountant through 1996. Mr. Henry earned his B.A. in biochemistry and cell biology from the University of California, San Diego, and his M.B.A., with a concentration in finance, from the University of California, Irvine. We believe he is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his strengths in corporate strategy, finance and operations, along with his extensive experience leading various functions at one of the largest and most innovative genetic healthcare companies.

Peter Kolchinsky, Ph.D. has served as a director since January 2015. Dr. Kolchinsky is a founder, Portfolio Manager, and Managing Director of RA Capital Management, LLC, a multi-stage investment manager which is dedicated to evidence-based investing in healthcare and life science companies, where he has worked since 2001. RA Capital Management, LLC is the general partner of RA Capital Healthcare Fund, L.P. He serves as a member of the Boardboard of Directorsdirectors of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and Synthorx, Inc., as well as a number of private companies. Dr. Kolchinsky authored “Entrepreneur’s Guide to a Biotech Startup” and served on the Board of Global Science and Technology for the National AcademicsAcademy of Sciences from 2009 to 2012. Dr. Kolchinsky earned his Ph.D. in virology from Harvard University and earned his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Cornell University. We believe Dr. Kolchinsky is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his business experience including his experience as an institutional investor and his experience serving on the boards of various healthcare and life science companies.

Koji Miura has served as a director since October 2012. Mr. Miura is the founder and Managing Director of Miura & Associates Management Consultants Pte. Ltd. and serves on the boards of directors of Azeus Systems Holdings Ltd., Marine Tec Tachibana Pte. Ltd., Matsuura Singapore Pte. Ltd., Mercury Investment Holding Pte. Ltd., Sunmoon Pte. Ltd., and Triple Farm Singapore Pte. Ltd. Mr. Miura holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Aoyama Gakuin, Tokyo, Japan. We believe he is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his broad business experience including his diverse background serving on the board of directors of various companies, both private and publicly-held, across multiple industries.

Adrian Rawcliffe has served as a director since February 2017. Mr. Rawcliffe currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, where he has worked since 2015. Prior to joining Adaptimmune, Mr. Rawcliffe served in various roles at GlaxoSmithKline plc, including Senior Vice President Finance, North America Pharmaceuticals and Global Franchises from 2011 to 2015; Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development and R&D Finance from 2006 to 2011; Vice President, Worldwide Business Development Transactions and Ventures from 2003 to 2005; and Vice President, Deal Structuring from 2001 to 2003. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Rawcliffe served as the President and Managing Partner of SR One Ltd. Mr. Rawcliffe began his career as a supervisor at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) from 1993 to 1997. Mr. Rawcliffe received his B.Sc. in Natural Sciences from the University of Durham, England. Mr. Rawcliffe also received Chartered Accountancy training through The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). We believe he is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his global expertise, along with extensive business and operating experience at one of the world’s largest global healthcare companies.

Ken Takanashi has served as a director since July 2012. Since 2002, Mr. Takanashi has served in various executive management and director roles at Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd., or SNBL,“SNBL,” and its affiliates and currently serves as its Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Takanashi was the Chief Financial Officer of SNBL USA, Ltd., a subsidiary of Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories, from 2012 to 2014. Mr. Takanashi earned an M.B.A. from the University of Warwick and received his bachelor’s degree from

the University of Tokyo and is a Chartered Public Accountant. We believe he is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his extensive experience leading research and development for biopharmaceutical companies and his business, financial and accounting credentials.

Gregory L. Verdine, Ph.D., is one of our founders and has served as a director since July 2013. He was our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer from our inception through December 2013 and served as Chairman of our Board of Directors from July 2013 through September 2017. Since 1989, Dr. Verdine has served as the Erving Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Verdineco-founded thenon-profit Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute and Gloucester Biotechnology Academy in 2013 and served as the Founding President until 2016. He is theco-founder of Fog Pharmaceuticals Inc. and LifeMine Therapeutics Inc. and serves as Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer for both companies. He is also the founder of Warp Drive Bio and has served in various roles, from Chief Scientific Officer to Chief Executive Officer, from the company’s inception in 2012 until April 2016. Dr. Verdine founded Enanta Pharmaceuticals and served as a member of the Boardits board of directors from 1990 through its initial public offering in 2013. He is a Venture Partner at WuXi Healthcare Ventures, and has previously served as Venture Partner at AppleTree Ventures, TPG Biotech and Third Rock Ventures. He has served on the Board of Scientific Counsellors of the National Cancer Institute, and is on the Board of Scientific Consultants of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and he is a Senior Advisor to Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd. Dr. Verdine is also theco-founder of Eleven Biotherapeutics, Tokai Therapeutics, Aileron Therapeutics, and Gloucester Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Celgene in 2010). He has also served as a director of the Chemical Biology Initiative and the Program in Cancer Chemical Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Verdine received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University and completed postdoctoral work in Molecular Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. We believe he is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his expertise and deep knowledge of our company, its technology and our industry and his long track record of creating and advising successful biopharmaceutical companies.

Pursuant to the Singapore Companies Act, Chapter 50, or the(the “Singapore Companies Act,”Act”) and our Constitution, our Board must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. Mr. Miura is our Singapore resident director. Due to the Singapore Companies Act requirement that we have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore in office at all times and the sole resident director cannot resign or step down unless there is at least one other resident director, in the event that Mr. Miura is not elected at the 20182019 AGM, he will continue in office after the 20182019 AGM as a member of our Board until his qualifying successor (i.e., a Singapore resident director) is appointed.

Director Independence

Even for a newly public company, our Board believes that independence is one important component of a high-functioning board capable of objective decision-making that represents the long-term interests of shareholders and the Company. Since the Company’s initial public offering less than four years ago, our Board has enhanced its independence by replacing two previous directors—a founder and a representative of an investor—with two directors, who are independent and not affiliated with any of our principal shareholders, Christian Henry and Adrian Rawcliffe, and also enhanced its independent leadership by appointing Mr. Henry as its independent Chairman. Our Board is committed to ensuring it reflects an appropriate level of independence in conjunction with the combination of qualifications, qualities and skills required to exercise its duties and responsibilities and serve the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. In accordance with our Corporate Governance Guidelines and Nasdaq rules, we hold executive sessions of our independent directors in conjunction with our regularly scheduled board meetings and otherwise as appropriate. In addition, our Compensation Committee meets in executive session with no members of management present, as needed or helpful, to address various compensation matters, including deliberations regarding our Chief Executive Officer’s performance and compensation.

Our Board has reviewed the materiality of any relationship that each of our directors has with the Company, either directly or indirectly. Based upon this review, our Board has determined that the following members of the Board are “independent directors” as defined by the Nasdaq Stock Market: Dr. Kolchinsky and Messrs. Henry, Miura, Rawcliffe and Takanashi.

Committees of the Board of Directors and Meetings

Meeting Attendance. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,2018, there were sixfive meetings of our Board, of Directors, and the various committees of the Board met a total of 1211 times. No director with the exception of Masaharu Tanaka, who served as a director from January 1, 2017 through August 10, 2017, the date of our 2017 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, attended fewer than 75% of the total number of meetings of the Board and of committees of the Board on which he served during 2017.2018. The Board has adopted a policy under which our directors are encouraged to attend our annual general meetings of shareholders. One directorof our directors attended our 20172018 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which was held on August 10, 2017.7, 2018. As a Singapore company, we are required to prepare annual Singapore statutory audited financial statements (our “second annual audit”) and to deliver them to our shareholders in connection with our annual general meetings of shareholders. Our second annual audit can only be conducted following our first annual audit, which requires our preparation and filing of annual U.S. GAAP audited consolidated financial statements with the SEC. As a result, these multiple audits do not allow us to schedule our quarterly board meetings at the same time as our annual general meetings of shareholders.shareholders and we typically hold our annual general meetings in August.

Audit Committee. Our Audit Committee held foursix meetings during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.2018. Our Audit Committee currently has three members: Mr. Henry (Chairman) and Messrs. Miura and

Rawcliffe. On February 1, 2017, Mr. Rawcliffe replaced Masaharu Tanaka, who served as a director of our Board during 2017 from January 1, 2017 through August 10, 2017, the date of our 2017 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, as a member of our Audit Committee. Our Audit Committee’s role and responsibilities are set forth in the Audit Committee’s written charter and include the responsibility to retain and terminate the services of our independent registered public accounting firm.firm and independent Singapore auditor. In addition, the Audit Committee reviews annual financial statements, considers matters relating to accounting policy and internal controls and reviews the scope of annual audits.

Messrs. Henry, Miura and Rawcliffe satisfy the current independence standards promulgated by the SEC and by the Nasdaq Stock Market, as such standards apply specifically to members of audit committees. The Board has determined that each member of the Audit Committee meets the financial literacy requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market Rules and that each of Messrs. Henry and Rawcliffe qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as the SEC has defined that term in Item 407 of RegulationS-K.

A copy of the Audit Committee’s written charter is publicly available on our website at www.wavelifesciences.com.

Compensation Committee. Our Compensation Committee met fourthree times during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.2018. The Compensation Committee currently has three members: Mr. Henry (Chairman), Dr. Kolchinsky and Mr. Takanashi. On March 9, 2017, Mr. Henry joined as a member of our Compensation Committee and, on December 12, 2017, replaced Dr. Kolchinsky as the Chairman of our Compensation Committee. During the period of January 1, 2017 through March 9, 2017, our Compensation Committee was comprised of two members, Dr. Kolchinsky (Chairman) and Mr. Takanashi. Our Compensation Committee’s role and responsibilities are set forth in the Compensation Committee’s written charter and includesinclude reviewing, approving and making recommendations regarding our compensation policies, practices and procedures to ensure that legal and fiduciary responsibilities of the Board of Directors are carried out and that such policies, practices and procedures contribute to our success. Our Compensation Committee also administers our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2014 Equity Incentive Plan”). The Compensation Committee is responsible for determining the compensation of our executive officers. For more information regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Compensation Committee, see below under “Executive Officer and Director Compensation — Compensation Discussion and Analysis.”

Each member of the Compensation Committee qualifies as independent under the definition promulgated by the Nasdaq Stock Market.

A copy of the Compensation Committee’s written charter is publicly available on our website at www.wavelifesciences.com.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee met fourtwo times during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017.2018. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee currently has three members: Mr. Henry (Chairman), Mr. Takanashi and Dr. Kolchinsky. On March 9, 2017, Mr. Henry joined as a member of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and, on December 12, 2017, replaced Mr. Takanashi as the Chairman of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. During the period of January 1, 2017 through March 9, 2017, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee was comprised of two members, Mr. Takanashi (Chairman) and Dr. Kolchinsky.

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee’s role and responsibilities are set forth in the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee’s written charter and include evaluating and making recommendations to the full Board as to the size and composition of the Board and its committees, evaluating and making recommendations as to potential candidates, and evaluating current Board members’ performance.

Each member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee qualifies as independent under the definition promulgated by the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is responsible for identifying individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by the Board, and recommending the persons to be nominated for election as directors, except where we are legally required by contract, law or otherwise to provide third parties with the right to nominate.

The process followed by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee to identify and evaluate director candidates includes making requests to Board members and others for recommendations, holding meetings from time to time to evaluate biographical information and reviewing background material relating to potential candidates and interviews of selected candidates by members of the committee and the Board. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is also authorized by its charter to retain search firms to identify director candidates. The qualifications, qualities and skills that the committee believes must be met by a committee-recommended nominee for a position on our Board of Directors are as follows:

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee considers issues of diversity among its members in identifying and considering nominees for director, and strives where appropriate to achieve a diverse balance of backgrounds, perspectives, experience, age, gender, ethnicity and country of citizenship on the Board and its committees. The value of many forms of diversity is reflected on our Board, and we believe that our current Board represents diversity of thought, background and experience, as well as diversity of personal characteristics such as ethnicity and age. As discussed in more detail below under “Annual Performance Evaluation of the Board,” the Board is committed to seeking out highly qualified women and minority candidates, as well as candidates with diverse backgrounds, skills and experiences as part of each search for qualified directors the Company undertakes.

A copy of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee’s written charter isand our Corporate Governance Guidelines, which set forth our nominee requirements are publicly available on our website at www.wavelifesciences.com.

Procedures by which Shareholders may Nominate Directors

The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee shall review and evaluate information available to it regarding candidates proposed by shareholders and shall apply the same criteria, and shall follow substantially the same process in considering them, as it does in considering other candidates. The factors generally considered by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee are set out in our Corporate Governance Guidelines, which are publicly available on the “For Investors & Media” section of our website at http://ir.wavelifesciences.com/ under the heading “Corporate Governance.” If a shareholder wishes to nominate a candidate to be considered by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee for election as a director at the 2019our 2020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, it must give timely notice of the nomination in writing to our General Counsel not less than 45 days prior to the date that is one year from the date on which we first mail our proxy statement relating to our 2018 AGM of Shareholders.the 2019 AGM. All shareholder proposals should be marked for the attention of General Counsel, Wave Life Sciences Ltd., 733 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Annual Performance Evaluation of the Board

Our Board recognizes that a thorough, constructive evaluation process enhances its effectiveness and is an essential element of good corporate governance. Accordingly, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee oversees an annual Board self-evaluation to determine whether the Board and its committees and members have the right skills, experience, backgrounds, perspectives and processes, and are functioning effectively. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee determines the nature of the evaluation, supervises the conduct of the evaluation and prepares or commissions the preparation of an assessment of the Board’s performance, to be discussed with the Board. The Board uses information provided through the evaluation process to improve its effectiveness.

To further enhance our board governance, the Chairman of the Board and our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee engaged a third party to conduct the annual board performance evaluation for 2018. Although this is not a common practice at our stage of development, the Chairman, with the support of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the full Board, determined that an assessment by an experienced, objective, outside party at this stage of the Board’s evolution would serve us well in optimizing board effectiveness.

The 2018 board evaluation included individual feedback sessions with management and board members conducted by the third-party board evaluation expert, with a focus on assessing individual director, board committee, and full board performance. The findings of the 2018 board evaluation were reviewed with the Board at our December 2018year-end Board meeting in a session led by the Chairman of the Board and assisted by the third-party evaluation expert. Thereafter, the Board created and prioritized an action plan to address the findings of the 2018 board evaluation. In addition, the Chairman conducted additional feedback sessions with individual Board members. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews the action plan with the Board throughout the year to evaluate progress.

One key action item arising from the 2018 board evaluation related to board recruitment. While the composition of our Board was found to represent an effective combination of skills and experience, an increase in diversity, particularly gender diversity, was recommended to enhance the Board’s perspective. Our Board endorsed this recommendation and has amended the Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines to provide that in every director search undertaken by the Company, the candidate slates would include gender and ethnic diversity. In addition, our Board resolved to make a good faith effort to seek to nominate at least one female director by the end of December 2020. In addition, the 2018 board evaluation recommended that our Board recruit additional members with biopharmaceutical company drug development operating experience. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee selected and retained a search firm in early 2019 and is actively seeking qualified candidates to address these recommendations. As the Company continues its relatively nascent evolution as a public company, enhancing the diversity and relevant experience of our Board will remain

an important component in the action plan towards ensuring the Company maintains an experienced, inclusive, high-functioning board with a broad range of viewpoints and independent thinking.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

During 2017,2018, the members of our Compensation Committee were Dr. Kolchinsky and Messrs. Henry and Takanashi. Dr. Kolchinsky is the managing member of RA Capital Management, LLC, the general partner of RA Capital Healthcare Fund, L.P., one of our shareholders. Mr. Takanashi is a director and executive officer of Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd. and its affiliates, one of our shareholders. We have entered into certain transactions with affiliates of RA Capital Healthcare Fund, L.P. and Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd., as further described under “Certain Relationships and Related Person Transactions” below.

No officer or employee has served as a member of the Compensation Committee. None of our executive officers serve as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our Board of Directors or Compensation Committee.

Familial Relationships

There are no familial relationships between any of our executive officers and directors.

Board Leadership Structure and Role in Risk Oversight

The positions of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer are presently separated at the Company. We believe that separating these positions allows our Chief Executive Officer to focus on ourday-to-day business, while allowing our Chairman of the Board to lead the Board of Directors in its fundamental role of providing advice to, and independent oversight of, management. Our Board of Directors recognizes the time, effort and energy that the Chief Executive Officer is required to devote to his position in the current business environment, as well as the commitment required to serve as our Chairman, particularly as the Board of Directors’Board’s oversight responsibilities continue to grow. Our Board of Directors also believes that this structure ensures a greater role for the independent directors in the oversight of our Company and active participation of the independent directors in setting agendas and establishing priorities and procedures for the work of our Board of Directors.Board. The Board retains the authority to modify this leadership structure as and when appropriate to best address the Company’s unique circumstances at any given time and to serve the best interests of our shareholders.

Our Board of Directors oversees the risk management activities designed and implemented by our management. Our Board of Directors executes its oversight responsibility for risk management both directly and through its committees. Our Board of Directors also considers specific risk topics, including risks associated with our strategic plan, business operations and capital structure. In addition, our Board of Directors receives detailed regular reports from members of our management team and other personnel that include assessments and potential mitigation of the risks and exposures involved with their respective areas of responsibility. Our Board of Directors may delegate to the Audit Committee oversight of our risk management process. Our other Board committees will also consider and address risk as they perform their respective committee responsibilities. Specifically, the Audit Committee receives regular reports from members of senior management on areas of material risk to the Company, including operational, financial, legal, regulatory, strategic and reputational risks. As part of its charter, our Audit Committee regularly discusses with management our major risk exposures, their potential financial impact on our Company and the steps we take to manage them. Our Compensation Committee assists the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities with respect to the management and risks arising from our compensation policies and programs. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee assists the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities with respect to the management of risks associated with Board organization, membership and structure, succession planning for our directors and executive officers and corporate governance. All committees report to the full Board of Directors as appropriate, including when a matter rises to the level of a material or enterprise level risk.

Corporate Sustainability Matters

The Company’s vision is to enable every patient with a genetic disease to have access to life-changing treatments in their lifetime. We understand that delivering on our vision over the long-term requires a focus on corporate sustainability, including environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations. As we build a world-class organization to develop a new era of oligonucleotide therapeutics, we expect to consider and increasingly provide transparency around the ESG factors we consider to be material to the Company.

As a rapidly growing, clinical-stage genetic medicines company, we are not yet in a position to implement a broad-based sustainability program. Nonetheless, our Board-approved goals are inspired by our commitment to maintain a patient-centric approach in everything we do and incorporate certain ESG factors. Our corporate goals focus on executing on our current pipeline of programs/medicines for patients; building for our future and expanding upon our current capabilities to develop life-changing treatments for patients; and further developing and retaining our employees by providing them with robust training and development opportunities to strengthen their workforce skills and capabilities, all while strengthening our culture and organization. The Company’s investment in human capital management, our patient advocacy and community outreach efforts, along with our commitment to implementing environmental sustainability initiatives, are at the core of our corporate goals and what we believe in as a company.

Human capital management is as an essential component of our strategy for long-term value creation as well as risk mitigation in the talent-constrained, highly competitive biopharmaceutical industry. The Company has adopted a forward-thinking philosophy that encompasses not only the work that we do, but also how we are building our culture and benefits. We strive to be the employer of choice for the employees on whom we—and by extension our shareholders—depend. The Company’s active approach to human capital management values and promotes diversity, development, and equal opportunity, among many other factors. Our commitment to maintaining an excellent workplace means investing in ongoing opportunities for employee development in a diverse and inclusive environment in which each team member plays a unique and important role. As the enhancement of gender diversity on our Board is underway, gender diversity is well-established within our workforce. Despite the historical lack of institutional emphasis on the importance of girls and women focusing on education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (“STEM”) and the resulting disproportionate occupation by men in the STEM-educated talent pool, the Company has prioritized and hired a gender diverse workforce. As of June 10, 2019, women make up just over half of our global workforce (50.5%); and constitute a strong percentage of the Company’s top two management tiers: 30% of our executive team members and 30% of our vice presidents. We believe that a gender diverse workforce not only positively impacts our performance and strengthens our culture, but it also cultivates an essential pipeline of experienced female leaders for management and board service.

Our community outreach is focused on better understanding patient needs by working with advocacy organizations, sponsorship of patient focused conferences and events, and listening to and learning from patients directly. We partner with patient advocacy groups and community members in the rare disease community to broaden understanding of the needs of these smaller patient populations, collaborate with them on the design of our clinical trials, and incorporate their perspectives in our drug development processes and overall corporate culture. Through our partnership with rare disease advocacy groups, we participate in charitable and other community activities that embody our values and commitment to these communities.

We are also committed to conducting business in a responsible manner that provides a safe workplace for our employees, protects the environment, and is consistent with being a good corporate neighbor. As we continue to expand our operations, we have initiated certain projects to begin tracking our environmental impact, and where feasible, have taken measures to increase our sustainability efforts.

The Company will continue to invest in its employees, culture, community partnerships and outreach, and environmental efforts, and anticipates reporting on other corporate sustainability measures over time.

Shareholder Communications to the Board

Generally, shareholders who have questions or concerns or who wish to address questions regarding our business directly with the Board, of Directors, or any individual director, should direct his or her questions in writing to IR@wavelifesci.com. Communications will be distributed to the Board, or to any individual director or directors as appropriate, depending on the facts and circumstances outlined in the communications. Items that are unrelated to the duties and responsibilities of the Board may be excluded, such as junk mail and mass mailings, resumes and other forms of job inquiries, surveys and solicitations or advertisements. In addition, any material that is unduly hostile, threatening, or illegal in nature may be excluded, provided that any communication that is filtered out will be made available to any outside director upon request.

Executive Officers

Set forth below is information as of June 15, 201810, 2019 regarding our executive officers who are not also directors. We have employment agreements with certain of our executive officers and all of our executive officers are generallyat-will employees.

Christopher Francis, Ph.D. has served as our Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Head of Emerging Areas since May 2017. During the period January 2017 to May 2017, Dr. Francis served as our Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Portfolio Management. Prior to that, Dr. Francis served as our Vice President, Head of Business Development since April 2014. Prior to joining us, Dr. Francis held senior operational, strategic and business development roles within GlaxoSmithKline Oncology from 2009 to 2014 and was a member of the team that established GlaxoSmithKline’s Rare Disease Unit. Before GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Francis was a health care private equity associate at Two River LLC from 2008 to 2009. He began his career in pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement consulting at IMS Health. Dr. Francis earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Melbourne and was a doctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge.

Michael Panzara, M.D., MPHjoined ushas served as our Chief Medical Officer since November 2018. During the period July 2016 to October 2018, Dr. Panzara served as our Franchise Lead, Neurology in July 2016.Neurology. Prior to joining us, Dr. Panzara served in various roles at Sanofi Genzyme (and Genzyme Corporation before its merger with Sanofi in 2011) from 2009 to July 2016, most recently serving as Head of the Multiple Sclerosis, Neurology and Ophthalmology Therapeutic Area for Global Development and prior to that, serving as Group Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head, Multiple Sclerosis and Neurology. Prior to joining Genzyme, Dr. Panzara served in roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen, including Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Neurology from 2006 to 2009 and in various roles in the Medical Research group from 2001 to 2006. In addition, from 1999 to 2011, Dr. Panzara was an Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He trained in neurology at MGH from 1994 to 1998, and completed his post-doctoral training in immunology and rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Panzara holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine, and a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Keith C. Regnante has served as our Chief Financial Officer since August 2016. Prior to joining us, from February 2014 to August 2016, Mr. Regnante served as Vice President of Finance at Shire Pharmaceuticals, a global biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Regnante also served on the Financial Leadership Team and the R&D

Leadership Team while he was at Shire. From September 2013 to February 2014, he served as Head of R&D

Finance for ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From January 1999 to August 2013, Mr. Regnante held multiple positions within finance for Biogen Inc., including Senior Director of Corporate Finance from 2011 to 2013, Senior Director of Worldwide R&D Finance from 2008 to 2011, and several other positions dating back to 1999. Prior to joining finance organizations for biotechnology companies, Mr. Regnante worked as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Chandra Vargeese, Ph.D. has served as our Senior Vice President, Head of Drug Discovery since August 2014. Before joining us, Dr. Vargeese served as Novartis’ Executive Director and Head of RNA Chemistry and Delivery, a position she held from 2008 to 2014. Prior to joining Novartis, Dr. Vargeese led siRNA delivery in the RNA Therapeutics division at Merck & Co., where she served as Senior Director and Head of RNA Chemistry and Delivery. Dr. Vargeese joined Merck through its acquisition of Sirna Therapeutics, where she was Vice President of Chemistry. Before Sirna, Dr. Vargeese served as Associate Director of Chemistry at NeXstar Pharmaceuticals and is theco-inventor of Macugen (pegaptanib), an approved therapy for treating wet AMD. Dr. Vargeese earned a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and completed post-doctoral work at the University of Rhode Island.

EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND DIRECTOR COMPENSATION

Compensation Discussion and Analysis

Introduction

In the paragraphs that follow, we have provided an overview and analysis of our compensation program and policies, the material compensation decisions we have made under those programs and policies, and the material factors that we considered in making those decisions. Following this section, you will find a series of tables containing specific information about the compensation earned or paid in fiscal 2018 to the following executive officers, who we will refer to throughout as our “named executive officers” or “NEOs”:

We became a public company in November 2015, and we have filed with the SEC since that date under the scaled reporting rules applicable to emerging growth companies. As of December 31, 2018, we were no longer an emerging growth company and therefore, our 2018 executive compensation disclosure includes additional information regarding executive compensation that was not included last year, including:

Executive Compensation Philosophy

Our Compensation Committee regularly reviews the elements of the individual compensation packages for our Chief Executive Officer and our other executive officers to achieve the following primary objectives:

We aim for simplicity in our compensation program so that it is easy for our employees and our shareholders to understand the various components of our compensation program and the incentives designed to drive Company performance. The three key components of our executive compensation program are base salary, annual cash performance-based incentives and equity-based long-term incentive awards.

2018 Business Highlights

2018 was an important year for Wave, as we continued to build upon our discovery, development and manufacturing capabilities and continued our transformation to become a fully integrated genetic medicines company aspiring to deliverbest-in-class medicines. Highlights of our accomplishments and milestones that informed our executive compensation decisions are described below.

Clinical trial and regulatory advancements:In August 2018, we initiated our multi-dose open-label extension (“OLE”) of our Phase 1 trial of suvodirsen, pursuant to which patients in the OLE are undergoing quarterly clinical assessments using validated clinical outcome measures and are having muscle biopsies taken so that an interim analysis may be conducted by measuring dystrophin expression using a standardized Western blot. In December 2018, we announced that the safety and tolerability data from the suvodirsen Phase 1 clinical trial in boys with DMD who are amenable to exon 51 skipping support the initiation of a Phase 2/3 efficacy and safety clinical trial. Atyear-end 2018, the planned Phase 2/3 trial for suvodirsen was selected for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) pilot program for complex innovative trial designs (“CID”), which marked the first time that the FDA had selected clinical protocols for its CID pilot program that was announced in August 2018. In HD, we continued to enroll patients in thePRECISION-HD program, which consists of two global Phase 1b/2a clinical trials evaluating investigational therapiesWVE-120101 andWVE-120102, and we successfully completed and reported the results of our observational research study of approximately 200 HD patients in the United States to determine whether such patients were heterozygous for one or both of two SNPs (rs362307 (SNP1) or rs362331 (SNP2)), and if the SNP is on the same allele as their pathogenic CAG repeat expansion.

Pipeline and program development: During 2018, we leveraged significant learnings from our ongoing DMD discovery and development efforts to identify and advanceWVE-N531 and relatedback-ups, our preclinical program to target DMD in boys amenable to exon 53 skipping. Throughout 2018, we made significant progress in expanding our DMD discovery programs to explore additional exon targets beyond our current exon 51 and exon 53 skipping programs, including exons 44, 45, 52, 54 and 55. In October 2018, we announced our plans to design and advance stereopure oligonucleotide therapeutics for the potential treatment of inherited retinal diseases and announced that our research is initially focused on retinitis pigmentosa due to a P23H mutation in the RHO gene, Stargardt disease, Usher syndrome type 2A and Leber congenital amaurosis 10. In addition, during 2018, we established high throughput screening of our stereopure oligonucleotides.

Strategic collaborations:In February 2018, we entered into a global strategic collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited to collaborate on the research, development and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics for disorders of the central nervous system (the “Takeda Collaboration”), which provides Wave with an aggregate of at least $230.0 million in committed cash. In April 2018, the Takeda Collaboration became effective and Takeda paid Wave $110.0 million as an upfront payment and paid $60.0 million to purchase Wave shares at the then-market price. Takeda also agreed to fund Wave’s research and preclinical activities in the amount of $60.0 million during the four-year research term and to reimburse Wave for any collaboration-budgeted research and preclinical expenses incurred by Wave that exceed that amount.In 2018, we continued our progress under our collaboration with Pfizer that we commenced in May 2016 and we are advancing Pfizer’s named targets from discovery through the selection of clinical candidates, at which point Pfizer may elect to exclusively license the programs and undertake further development and potential commercialization.

Finance and operations:We ended 2018 in a strong financial position with $174.8 million in cash and cash equivalents. During 2018, we completed the buildout of our Lexington, Massachusetts facility, transitioned approximately 100 employees to that facility, and began producing clinical material in the GMP manufacturing suite there. We have also established and continue to enhance our internal current good manufacturing practices manufacturing capabilities to increase control and visibility of our drug substance supply chain. We continued strengthening our intellectual property position and as of February 1, 2019, our portfolio included at least 18

issued U.S. patents, at least 40 issued foreign patents, and pending applications in at least 37 jurisdictions. During 2018, we hired approximately 82 new employees and integrated them across all of our functional areas. In addition, we achieved an approximate 20% total shareholder return for investors during 2018.

Roles and Responsibilities in the Decision-making Process

Role of the Compensation Committee

Pursuant to its charter, our Compensation Committee creates the policies that govern base salary, annual cash performance-based incentives, our long-term incentive program and other compensation and benefits for our executive officers. Our Compensation Committee also oversees various executive and employee compensation plans and programs and is responsible for monitoring these plans and programs to confirm that they adhere to our compensation philosophy and objectives. Our Compensation Committee determines the appropriate compensation levels for our executive officers, evaluates officer and director compensation plans, policies and programs, and reviews benefit plans for our executive officers. Our Compensation Committee believes that the total compensation paid to our executive officers should be fair, reasonable and competitive, and that a significant portion of the total compensation should be tied to our Company’s annual and long-term performance. Each year, our Compensation Committee reviews and discusses our executive officers’ proposed compensation with the Chief Executive Officer for all executives other than the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Executive Officer’s compensation is determined solely by the Compensation Committee.

Role of Management

Our Compensation Committee works with members of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (except with respect to his own compensation), and our human resources, finance and legal professionals. Typically, our management assists the Compensation Committee by providing information on corporate and individual performance and management’s perspective and recommendations on compensation matters for each executive officer. Our Chief Executive Officer provides recommendations to the Compensation Committee regarding most compensation matters, including executive compensation and our annual and long-term incentive programs. However, the Compensation Committee does not delegate any of its functions to others in setting the compensation of our NEOs.

Role of Compensation Consultant

Our Compensation Committee has the authority to retain the services and obtain the advice of external advisors, including compensation consultants, legal counsel and other advisors to assist in the evaluation of executive officer compensation. Our Compensation Committee engaged Radford, a business unit of AON Plc and an independent executive compensation consulting firm (“Radford”), to review our executive compensation policies and practices and to conduct an executive compensation market analysis.

For 2018, Radford reviewed and advised on all principal aspects of our executive compensation program, including:

Our Compensation Committee has assessed the independence of Radford consistent with the Nasdaq Stock Market listing requirements and has concluded that the engagement of Radford does not raise any conflicts of interest.

Peer Companies and Use of Market Data

In determining market competitiveness of executive officer compensation, our Compensation Committee, with the assistance of its independent compensation consultant, Radford, evaluates the market competitiveness of compensation for each of our executive officers in order to guide target compensation decisions for the coming year. Our Compensation Committee references a peer group of publicly traded companies in the biopharmaceutical industry for purposes of gathering data to compare with our existing executive compensation levels and practices and as context for future compensation decisions. Our Compensation Committee reviews and updates the compensation peer group each year, as appropriate, to include companies that the Compensation Committee believes are competitors for executive talent and that are similar to us in terms of their stage of development, market capitalization, number of employees, business focus, structure, financial profile and geographic proximity to the Cambridge biotech cluster, as applicable. We also recognize that it is unlikely for companies to align equally on all factors, so we consider companies that meet a majority of the criteria. Due to the nature of our business, we compete for executive talent with many companies much larger than we are. Our Compensation Committee considers peer group and other industry compensation data and the recommendations of our compensation consultant when making decisions related to executive compensation, ultimately giving consideration to the competitiveness of our compensation program, internal perceptions of equity and individual performance and role.

Our peer group for 2018 consisted of the following 19 companies that were selected among publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies:

Our Compensation Committee finds comparative data from our peer group to be useful in setting and adjusting executive compensation, but it does not target our programs or any particular element of compensation to be at or within a particular percentile or range compared to our peers. Our Compensation Committee uses the peer group data primarily to ensure that our executive compensation program and its constituent elements are and remain competitive in relation to our peers, and applies judgment and discretion in establishing targeted compensation levels taking into account not only competitive market data but also the experience of the executive, scope of responsibility, critical skill sets and expertise.

Components of Executive Compensation

The primary elements of our executive compensation program are:

We also provide broad-based health and welfare benefits and have certain severance andchange-in-control benefits. Our intention is to structure these components of our executive compensation program in a way that achieves the objectives of the program of linking and emphasizing pay to performance over both the short- and long-term, aligning executives’ interests with the interests of shareholders and attracting, motivating and retaining highly skilled and experienced executives.

Base Salary

Annual base salary is designed to provide a competitive fixed rate of pay, recognizing different levels of responsibility and performance. Actual salaries reflect the judgment and consideration of numerous factors by the Compensation Committee. These factors include the NEO’s experience, importance of position, performance, comparative survey data, internal pay equity, scope of responsibilities, expertise, the criticality of the NEO’s position within the Company, the other elements of compensation received by the NEO, and the NEO’s compensation in comparison to similarly situated executive officers at comparable companies in our peer group. The salary increases for 2018 for all of our NEOs were made to ensure better alignment with market data and in consideration of internal pay equity.

The following were the annual base salaries of our NEOs in effect for 2017 and 2018:

Annual Performance-Based Cash Incentive Compensation

The Compensation Committee believes that, in order to reward performance and overall Company success, a portion of an executive officer’s compensation should be tied to the achievement of the Company’s goals in the form of an annual cash incentive payment. Our executive officers are eligible to receive annual cash incentive awards, with the target bonus opportunity determined as a percentage of their base salary. We established this program in order to focus and incentivize our executives to achieve short-term strategic business objectives.

For 2018, the target bonus opportunity for each NEO was the same as for 2017, except for Dr. Bolno whose target percentage was increased from 50% to 55% to align his bonus opportunity with similarly situated CEOs.

At the beginning of 2018, our Board approved corporate goals and objectives that our Compensation Committee then used to design our annual incentive compensation program for 2018. Under this program, the Compensation Committee established corporate goals that would apply uniformly to all of our executive officers. For the reasons set forth under “2018 Business Highlights” above, we believe that 2018 was a successful year for Wave as we continued to make significant progress in advancing our pipeline. Our 2018 corporate goals that were assessed to determine the achievement of our corporate performance were as follows:

Our Board reviewed the Company’s achievement of our 2018 corporate goals and determined that achievement was at 102%. The Compensation Committee then determined that bonuses for 2018 performance be paid to our named executive officers based on these results. In early 2019, our CEO and other NEOs were awarded their incentive payouts in connection with meeting the 2018 corporate goals at 102% of their incentive target amount. The following table sets forth the cash bonus payments for 2018 performance:

Long-Term Incentive Compensation

We have a broad-based equity compensation program designed to reward and motivate our employees, including our NEOs. Equity awards help align the interests of our NEOs and other employees with the long-term interests of our shareholders and provide an opportunity for employees to acquire an ownership interest in the Company. The granting of equity awards is also consistent with our compensation philosophy of attracting, retaining and motivating our NEOs to deliver sustainable long-term value and aligning the interests of our executives with those of our shareholders. In determining the size and type of equity awards to grant, our Compensation Committee considered evolving market practices, as well as the retentive value provided by our equity grants.

Our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, which we adopted prior to our initial public offering, was amended in August 2017 following shareholder approval of the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan at our 2017 Annual General Meeting. The plan allows for the grant of options, restricted share awards, restricted share unit awards (RSUs), other share or cash-based awards and dividend equivalent awards to employees,non-employee directors and consultants.

Since Wave became a public company in November 2015, we have provided annual long-term incentive awards to our executive officers as follows:

In 2017, we changed the mix of the number of awards to be granted to more than one type of award to combine the retention and downside risk benefits inherent in RSUs with the shareholder-value-creation benefits inherent in share options, while mitigating the potential risk that may manifest itself through using a single type of award. Option awards produce value only if the price of the underlying ordinary shares appreciates, and then only to the extent of the excess of its share price over the exercise price of the option. Options are granted with an exercise price equal to the fair market value of the Company’s ordinary shares on the date of grant. Because our equity awards vest incrementally over time, they create an incentive for executives to continue their employment with the Company for extended periods after grant.

In determining the annual equity awards to be granted to our named executive officers in 2018, our Compensation Committee considered, among other things, the value of the annual equity awards received by executives in our compensation peer group and our industry and the size of the annual equity awards as a percentage of our outstanding shares, dilution to existing shareholders and the retention value in the outstanding equity program based on the value of outstanding unvested awards. To promote our performance-based compensation philosophy, individual equity awards were positioned higher or lower within the compensation peer group range based on the individual performance of each named executive officer.

For the details regarding our 2018 equity awards see the “2018 Fiscal Year Grants of Plan-Based Awards” table below.

Employee Benefits and Perquisites

Benefits offered to our named executive officers serve a different purpose than do the other elements of total compensation. In general, they are designed to provide a safety net of protection against the financial catastrophes that can result from illness, disability or death and provide for some benefits upon retirement. Benefits offered to our NEOs are the same as those offered to the general employee population, except for the car service provided to our CEO, which is reflected in the “all other compensation” column in the summary compensation table below. The Compensation Committee determined it is in the best interest of the Company to provide car service for our CEO in order to promote the efficient use of his work time for the Company and to provide safe transportation given the demands of his role, which often require the participation on conference calls during commuting hours as well as extended work hours.

We maintain a 401(k) plan that is intended to qualify under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986, as amended. In general, all of our employees, including our named executive officers, are eligible to participate in the 401(k) plan. Under the 401(k) plan, employees may elect to reduce their current compensation by up to the statutorily prescribed annual limit, equal to $18,500 in 2018, and to have the amount of such reduction contributed to the 401(k) plan. We currently match 50% of an employee’s 401(k) contributions up to a maximum of 6% of the participant’s compensation. Matching contributions are 100% vested upon completion of one year of service with the Company. In addition, employees who turn age 50 before the end of any calendar year may also defer up to an additional $6,000, and thesecatch-up contributions are eligible for matching contributions. Matching contributions made to each of our named executive officers are included in the “Summary Compensation Table” below.

Employment Agreements and Severance Benefits

Each of our named executive officers entered into an employment agreement or offer letter with the Company in connection with the commencement of his or her employment. All employment agreements and

offer letters generally provide forat-will employment and that our named executive officers are eligible to participate in employee benefit plans of general applicability to other employees, which we maintain from time to time. Dr. Bolno’s employment agreement, which was entered into while we were still a private company, provides for continued payment of his base salary for 12 months if he is terminated by the Company without cause. Drs. Francis and Vargeese offer letters, which were entered into while we were still a private company, do not provide for any severance arrangements with the Company. Each of Dr. Panzara and Mr. Regnante, who joined the Company after our initial public offering, entered into an employment agreement with the Company that provides if he is involuntarily terminated by the Company without cause or he terminates his employment for good reason, he will be entitled to receive continued payment of his base salary for 12 months following termination, continued payment of health insurance premiums at the Company’s then normal rate of contribution until the earlier of 12 months following termination or until he commences new employment. In addition, if a change of control occurs and within one year following the change of control, Dr. Panzara or Mr. Regnante is involuntarily terminated without cause or terminates his employment for good reason, he will be entitled to receive a lump sum cash payment equal to 12 months of his then-current annual base salary; the payment of a separation bonus equal to his then annual target bonus opportunity, prorated through his termination date; and continued payment of health insurance premiums at the Company’s then normal rate of contribution until the earlier of 12 months following the termination date or until he commences new employment.

In addition, as a condition of their employment, each of our named executive officers has entered into anon-competition andnon-solicitation agreement pursuant to which he or she has agreed not to compete with us nor hire our employees for a period of 12 months following the termination of his or her employment.

The equity agreements with each of Drs. Bolno, Francis, Panzara, and Vargeese and Mr. Regnante that were entered into on or before December 31, 2017 provide that all unvested shares underlying outstanding options and restricted share units will become fully vested upon a change of control. The Compensation Committee determined that commencing in 2018 future equity agreements with our NEOs would provide for “double trigger” vesting upon a change of control meaning that all unvested shares underlying outstanding options and restricted share units granted after December 31, 2017 will become fully vested upon termination without cause or for good reason within 12 months following a change of control. We have not provided any excise taxgross-ups to any of our NEOs in the event of a change of control.

Policy Against Anti-Hedging and Pledging

We maintain an Insider Trading Policy that, among other things, prohibits all officers, including our named executive officers, directors and employees from engaging in “hedging” transactions with respect to our ordinary shares. This includes short sales, hedging of share ownership positions, and transactions involving derivative securities relating to our ordinary shares. In addition, they are also prohibited from pledging of the Company’s securities as collateral for a loan; provided, however, that (i) any pledge arrangement which existed prior to the adoption of the Company’s Insider Trading Policy in connection with its initial public offering, was grandfathered and need not be unwound solely due to the adoption of this policy; and (ii) exceptions may be granted for pledge arrangements where Company personnel wish to pledge the Company’s securities as collateral for a loan (other than a margin loan) and can demonstrate the financial wherewithal to repay the loan without having to resort to the pledged securities.

Risk Analysis of Our Compensation Plans

Our management assesses and discusses with our Compensation Committee our compensation policies and practices for our employees as they relate to our risk management. Based on this assessment, we do not believe that any risks arise from such policies and practices that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on us now or in the future.

Recent Executive Compensation Actions

In the first quarter of 2019, our Compensation Committee approved salary increases and 2019 target bonus percentages effective as of January 1, 2019. In addition, our Compensation Committee approved 2019 long-term incentive plan awards for our named executive officers for purposes of retention, to recognize sustained long-term performance, and to incentivize achievement of future, multi-year objectives. These actions of our Compensation Committee are summarized below:

As shown in the table above, in 2019 we determined not to grant options and instead added performance-based restricted share units to the mix of grants for our NEOs, in addition to the continued grant of time-based RSUs. The time-based RSUs will vest as in previous years on an annual basis over a four-year period, subject to continuous service. The performance-based RSUs vest based on two separate performance metrics, 80% of the award will vest upon receipt of the first regulatory approval of a Wave drug product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or European Medicines Agency and 20% of the award will vest upon the first commercial sale of a Wave drug product, in each case, occurring within 10 years of the grant date.

Compensation Committee Report

The Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors has reviewed and discussed the Compensation Discussion and Analysis required by Item 402(b) of RegulationS-K, which appears elsewhere in this proxy statement, with our management. Based on this review and discussion, the Compensation Committee has recommended to our Board that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in our proxy statement.

Members of the Wave Life Sciences Ltd. Compensation Committee:

Christian Henry (Chairman)

Peter Kolchinsky

Ken Takanashi

Summary Compensation Table

The following table shows the total compensation paid or accrued during the last twothree fiscal years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 to our President and Chief Executive Officer, our Chief Financial Officer and our twothree next most highly compensated executive officers who earned more than $100,000 during the fiscal year ended December 31, 20172018 and were serving as executive officers as of such date.

2018 Fiscal Year Grants of Plan-Based Awards

The following table shows information regarding grants ofnon-equity incentive plan awards and grants of equity awards that we made during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 to each of our executive officers named in the Summary Compensation Table.

Narrative to Summary Compensation Table

Our Compensation Committee reviews and discusses our executive officers’ proposed compensation with the Chief Executive Officer for all executives other than the Chief Executive Officer. The Chief Executive Officer’s compensation is determined by the Compensation Committee.

Employment Agreements

Paul B. Bolno, M.D. Effective as of January 1, 2016, Dr. Bolno’s annual base salary was increased to $490,000 and his annual target bonus percentage for his 2016 bonus was increased to 50%. Effective as of January 1, 2017, Dr. Bolno’s annual base salary was increased to $515,300, and effective as of January 1, 2018, his annual base salary was increased to $541,100. In January 2018, in recognition of his 2017 performance supporting the achievementEach of our corporate goals discussed below, Dr. Bolno received a cash bonus of $283,400 that was equal to 110% of his target bonus of 50%. He also received an option to purchase 109,000 of our ordinary shares and 54,500 restricted share units under our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan as long-term incentive plan awards. In addition, effective as of January 1, 2018, Dr. Bolno’s annual target bonus percentage was increased to 55%.

Christopher Francis, Ph.D.In March 2014, wenamed executive officers entered into an employment agreement or offer letter with Dr. Francis pursuant to which he served as our Vice President, Head of Business Development, and now serves as our Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Head of Emerging Areas. Effective as of January 1, 2017, Dr. Francis’s annual base salary was increased to $330,000, and effective as of January 1, 2018, his annual base salary was increased to $363,000. In January 2018,the Company in recognitionconnection with the commencement of his 2017 performance supporting the achievement ofor her employment. All agreements provide forat-will employment and that our corporate goals discussed below, Dr. Francis received a cash bonus of $127,100 that was equal to 110% of his annual target bonus percentage of 35%. In addition, he received an option to purchase 26,000 of our ordinary shares and 13,000 restricted share units under our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan as long-term incentive plan awards.

Chandra Vargeese, Ph.D.In July 2014, we entered into an offer letter with Dr. Vargeese pursuant to which she served as our Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery. Effective as of January 1, 2017, Dr. Vargeese’s annual base salary was increased to $350,000, and effective as of January 1, 2018, her annual base salary was increased to $400,000. In January 2018, in recognition of her 2017 performance supporting the achievement of our corporate goals discussed below, Dr. Vargeese received a cash bonus of $154,000 that was equal to 110% of her annual target bonus percentage of 40%. In addition, she received an option to purchase 35,000 of our ordinary shares and 17,500 restricted share units under our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan as long-term incentive plan awards.

Our named executive officers are also entitledeligible to certain benefitsparticipate in connection with a terminationemployee benefit plans of employment or a change of control,general applicability to other employees, which are discussed below under “—Potential Payments upon Termination orChange-In-Control.”

we maintain from time to time. In addition, as a condition of their employment, each of our named executive officers has entered into anon-competition andnon-solicitation agreement pursuant to which he or she has agreed not to compete with us for a period of 12 months following the termination of his or her employment. All agreements generally provide forat-will employment and that our named executive officers are eligible to participate in employee benefit plans of general applicability to other senior executives, which we maintain from time to time.

2017Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation

Each of our named executive officers is eligible to receive an annual cash bonus calculated based on a target percentage of base salary, subject to the achievement of annual performance goals as determined by our Board of Directors in its sole discretion. Performance goals considered by our Board of Directors to determine bonuses for 2017 included advancing our pipeline by initiating three clinical programs in neurology and identifying clinical candidates outside of neurology; investing in platform technologies to enhance our discovery engine; and establishing internal cGMP manufacturing capabilities to meet our clinical deliverables. In recognition of these achievements, each of our named executive officers received their annual bonuses at 110% of their target bonus percentage.

2014 Equity Incentive Plan

Our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan was amended on August 10, 2017, (the “2014 Equity Incentive Plan”), following receipt of shareholder approval at our 2017 Annual General Meeting. Accordingly, based on approval at our 2017 Annual General Meeting, our Board of Directors and shareholders have authorized 6,064,544 ordinary shares for the granting of incentive options,non-qualified options, or NQSOs,“NQSOs,” share appreciation rights and restricted share unit awards, plus annual increases on the first day of July 2018, 2019 and 2020 equal to the lesser of (A) 3% of the ordinary shares outstanding on the day prior to the increase; and (B) such lesser number of ordinary shares as determined by the Board; provided that no more than 10,000,000 ordinary shares may be issued upon the exercise of incentive share options. On July 1, 2018 the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan was increased by 878,800 ordinary shares. The maximum number of ordinary shares with respect to awards which may be granted to any participant in any fiscal year under the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan is 600,000 shares. In the event of a share dividend, split, recapitalization or reorganization or other change in capital structure, our Board of Directors will make appropriate adjustments to these amounts.

Any shares subject to an award that is canceled, forfeited or expires prior to exercise or realization, either in full or in part, will again become available for issuance under the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan. However, shares subject to an award under the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan will not again be made available for issuance or delivery under the 2014 Equity Incentive Plan if such shares are (a) shares tendered in payment of an option; (b) shares delivered or withheld by us to satisfy any tax withholding obligation; or (c) shares covered by a share-settled share appreciation right or other awards that were not issued upon the settlement of the award.

If we are acquired, our Board of Directors (or Compensation Committee) will with respect to options and share appreciation rights: (i) make appropriate provision for the continuation of the option or share appreciation right by substituting on an equitable basis for the ordinary shares then subject to such option or share appreciation right either the consideration payable with respect to the outstanding ordinary shares in connection with the corporate transaction or securities of any successor or acquiring entity; (ii) cancel or arrange for the cancellation of the options or share appreciation rights, to the extent not vested or exercised prior to the effective time of the transaction, in exchange for a payment in cash or ordinary shares as determined by the Board, of Directors, in an amount equal to the amount by which the then-fair market value of the ordinary shares subject to such vested option or share appreciation right exceeds the exercise price; or (iii) after giving holders an opportunity to exercise to the extent vested their outstanding options or share appreciation rights, terminate any or all unexercised options and share appreciation rights at such time as the Board of Directors deems appropriate. If we are acquired, our Board of Directors (or Compensation Committee) will with respect to outstanding restricted awards make appropriate provision for the continuation of such restricted awards on the same terms and conditions by substituting on an equitable basis for the ordinary shares then subject to such restricted awards either the consideration payable with respect to the outstanding ordinary shares in connection with the transaction or securities of any successor or acquiring entity. In lieu of the foregoing, if we are acquired, the Board of Directors may provide that, upon consummation of the acquisition, each outstanding restricted award shall be terminated in exchange for payment of an amount equal to the consideration payable upon consummation of such transaction to a holder of the number of ordinary shares comprising such restricted award to the extent then vested.

Outstanding Equity Awards at 20172018 FiscalYear-End

The following table shows grants of options and grants of unvested restricted share unit awards outstanding on the last day of the fiscal year ended December 31, 20172018 to each of the executive officers named in the Summary Compensation Table.

become fully vested upon termination without cause or for good reason within 12 months following a change of control.

401(k) PlanOption Exercises and Stock Vested

The following table shows information regarding exercises of options to purchase our shares and vesting of restricted share unit awards held by each executive officer named in the Summary Compensation Table during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018.

Pension Benefits

We maintain a 401(k) plan that is intended to qualify under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986, as amended. In general, all of our employees, including our named executive officers, are eligible to participate in the 401(k)do not have any qualified ornon-qualified defined benefit plans.

Nonqualified Deferred Compensation

We do not have any nonqualified defined contribution plans or other deferred compensation plan. Under the 401(k) plan, employees may elect to reduce their current compensation by up to the statutorily prescribed annual limit, equal to $18,000 in 2017, and to have the amount of such reduction contributed to the 401(k) plan. We currently match 50% of an employee’s 401(k) contributions up to a maximum of 6% of the participant’s compensation. Matching contributions are 100% vested upon completion of one year of service with the Company. Matching contributions made to each of our named executive officers are included in the “Summary Compensation Table” above.

Potential Payments upon Termination orChange-In-Control

Pursuant to an employment agreement entered into with Dr. Bolno in connection with his initial employment in 2013, if we terminate his employment without cause, he will be entitled to receive as of the date of his termination continued payment of his base salary for 12 months. Cause under Dr. Bolno’s employment

agreement is defined as: (i) an act of dishonesty made in connection with his responsibilities as an employee; (ii) a conviction of, or plea of nolo contendere to, a felony or any crime involving fraud, embezzlement or any other act of moral turpitude; (iii) gross misconduct; (iv) unauthorized use or disclosure of any proprietary information or trade secrets of the Company; (v) termination due to the Company becoming insolvent; (vi) willful breach of any obligations under any written agreement or covenant with the Company; or (vii) continued failure to perform employment duties after having received a written demand of performance from the Company.

Pursuant to an employment entered into with Dr. Panzara in connection with his initial employment in July 2016 and with Mr. Regnante in connection with his initial employment in August 2016, if Dr. Panzara or Mr. Regnante is involuntarily terminated by the Company without cause or terminates employment for good reason, he will be entitled to receive continued payment of his base salary for 12 months following termination, continued payment of health insurance premiums at the Company’s then normal rate of contribution until the earlier of 12 months following termination or until he commences new employment. In addition, if a change of control occurs and within one year following the change of control, Dr. Panzara or Mr. Regnante is involuntarily terminated without cause or terminates his employment for good reason, he will be entitled to receive a lump sum cash payment equal to 12 months of his then-current annual base salary; the payment of a separation bonus equal to his then annual target bonus opportunity, prorated through his termination date; and continued payment of health insurance premiums at the Company’s then normal rate of contribution until the earlier of 12 months following the termination date or until he commences new employment. Receipt of the severance and change of control benefits described above are subject to execution of a release of claims against the Company and compliance with certain restrictive covenants following the termination of his employment.

Cause under the employment agreements of Dr. Panzara or Mr. Regnante shall include: (i) willful engagement in dishonesty, illegal conduct or gross misconduct, which is, in each case, materially injurious to the Company or any affiliate; (ii) significant insubordination; (iii) substantial malfeasance or nonfeasance of duty; (iv) unauthorized disclosure of confidential information; (v) embezzlement, misappropriation or fraud, whether or not related to employment with the Company; or (vi) breach of a material provision of any employment,non-disclosure, invention assignment,non-competition, or similar agreement with the Company.

Good Reason under the employment agreements of Dr. Panzara or Mr. Regnante means: (i) relocation of his principal business location to a location more than 50 miles from such location; (ii) a material diminution in the executive’s duties, authority or responsibilities; or (iii) a material reduction in his base salary (other than as a result of a broad based reduction of salary similarly affecting other Company executives having comparable rank, authority and seniority).

Drs. Francis and Vargeese do not have any severance arrangements with the Company.

Pursuant to applicable equity agreements with each of Drs. Bolno, Francis, Panzara and Vargeese and Mr. Regnante, all unvested shares underlying outstanding options and restricted share units that were granted through December 31, 2017 will become fully vested upon a change of control which is defined as follows: (A) a merger or consolidation of the Company whether or not approved by the Board, of Directors, other than a merger or consolidation which would result in the voting securities of the Company outstanding immediately prior thereto continuing to represent (either by remaining outstanding or by being converted into voting securities of the surviving entity or the parent of such corporation) more than 50% of the total voting power represented by the voting securities of the Company or such surviving entity or parent of such corporation, as the case may be, outstanding immediately after such merger or consolidation; or (B) the sale or disposition by the Company of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets in a transaction requiring shareholder approval.

Pursuant to applicable equity agreements with each of Drs. Bolno, Francis, Panzara and Vargeese and Mr. Regnante, all unvested shares underlying outstanding options and restricted share units that are granted after December 31, 2017 will become fully vested upon termination without cause or for good reason within 12 months following a change of control, as defined above.

In addition, if we terminate Dr. Bolno’s employment without cause, then he will be

The following table sets forth estimates of the payments and benefits each named executive officer would have been entitled to receive asfrom the Company upon a termination of employment under the circumstances described in the table effective December 31, 2018. In accordance with SEC rules, the potential payments were determined under the terms of the date of termination continued payment of his base salary for 12 months. Drs. FrancisCompany’s contracts, agreements, plans and Vargeesearrangements as in effect on December 31, 2018. The tables do not haveinclude any severance arrangements withpreviously vested equity awards or accrued benefits. Because the Company.payments to be made to a named executive officer depend on several factors, the actual amounts to be paid out upon a triggering event can only be determined at the time of the triggering event.

Director Compensation

The following table shows the total compensation paid or accrued during the fiscal year ended December 31, 20172018 to each of ournon-employee directors. Directors who are also employees are not compensated for their service on our Board of Directors.Board.

The following is a descriptiontable shows the aggregate number of the standardshares subject to options held by each of ournon-employee directors as of December 31, 2018.

At our 2018 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, our shareholders overwhelmingly approved our 2018non-employee director compensation arrangementspolicy, under which our directors arewere compensated for their service as directors, including as members of the various committees of our Board on which they serve, for the Board service period that commenced on the date of Directors. In 2016, our Board of Directors and our shareholders approved a compensation policy for our

non-employee directors, or theNon-Employee Director Compensation Policy, which took effect on November 10, 2016. At the 20172018 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders our shareholders approved the extension of the term of ourNon-Employee Director Compensation Policyand runs through the date on which our 2018 AGM is held. The approval of Proposal 3 would extend the term of ourNon-Employee Director Compensation Policy through the date on which our 2019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is held and amend theAGM. The terms of the compensation payable thereunder as set forth in Proposal 3. On August 10, 2017, our shareholders approved the following2018non-employee director compensation be paid to ournon-employee directors from the date of our 2017 AGM through the date of the 2018 AGM:policy are as follows:

In Proposal 3, as required by Singapore law, we are now asking our shareholders to approve the terms of a 2019non-employee director compensation policy, which would take effect on the date of our 2019 AGM for the Board service period commencing on the date of our 2019 AGM and running through the date on which our 2020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is held. Please see Proposal 3 below for the terms of the 2019non-employee director compensation policy.

EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION

The following table provides certain information with respect to our 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, which was our only equity compensation plan in effect as of December 31, 2017.2018.

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REPORT OF AUDIT COMMITTEE

The Audit Committee of the Board of Directors has furnished the following report:

The Audit Committee assists the Board in overseeing and monitoring the integrity of our financial reporting process, compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and the quality of internal and external audit processes. The committee’s role and responsibilities are set forth in the Audit Committee charter adopted by the Board, which is available on our website at www.wavelifesciences.com. This committee reviews and reassesses our charter annually and recommends any changes to the Board for approval. The Audit Committee is responsible for overseeing our overall financial reporting process, and for the appointment, compensation, retention, and oversight of the work of KPMG LLP. In fulfilling its responsibilities for the financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,2018, the Audit Committee took the following actions:

Based on the Audit Committee’s review of the audited financial statements and discussions with management and KPMG LLP, the Audit Committee recommended to the Board that the audited financial statements be included in our Annual Report on Form10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 20172018 for filing with the SEC.

SECTION 16(A)16(a) BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REPORTING COMPLIANCE

With the exception of Form 4s required to report the receipt of annual option grants to each of ournon-employee directors, Drs. Kolchinsky and Verdine, and Messrs. Henry, Miura, Rawcliffe, and Takanashi, on August 10, 2017, the date of our 2017 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, pursuant to our publicly filednon-employee director compensation policy, which were filed on August 17, 2017 (but were due on August 14, 2017), ourOur records reflect that all reports that were required to be filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act in 2018 were filed on a timely basis.

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PERSON TRANSACTIONS

The following includes a summary of transactions since January 1, 20172018 to which we have been a party, in which the amount involved in the transaction exceeded $120,000, and in which any of our directors, executive officers or beneficial owners of more than 5% of our ordinary shares, on anas-converted basis, or any member of the immediate family of any of the foregoing persons had or will have a direct or indirect material interest, other than equity and other compensation, termination, change in control and other arrangements, which are described under “Executive Officer and Director Compensation.” We refer to such transactions as “related party transactions” or “related person transactions” and such persons as “related parties.parties” or “related persons.” With the approval of our Board, of Directors, we have engaged in the related party transactions described below.

Related PartyPerson Transaction Policy

Our Board of Directors has adopted a written related person transaction policy that requires future transactions between us and any director, executive officer, holder of 5% or more of any class of our managementcapital stock or any member of the immediate family of, or entities affiliated with, any of them, or any other related persons, as defined in Item 404 ofRegulation S-K, or their affiliates, in which the amount involved is equal to identify proposed related party transactions and present information about the proposed related party transaction toor greater than $120,000, be approved in advance by our Audit Committee, or if Audit Committee approval would be inappropriate, toby another independent body of our Board of Directors, for review and, if deemed appropriate, for approval by the committee.Board. In approving or rejecting such proposed related partyperson transaction, the committee is required to consider all available information deemed relevant factsby the committee, including, but not limited to, the extent of the related person’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. The committee approves only those transactions that, in light of known circumstances, are deemed to be in our best interests. In the event that any member of the committee is not a disinterested person with respect to the related partyperson transaction under review, that member is excluded from the review and approval or rejection of such related partyperson transaction; provided, however, that such committee member may be counted in determining the presence of a quorum at the meeting of the committee at which such transaction is considered. If we become aware of an existing related partyperson transaction which has not been approved under the policy, the matter will be referred to the committee. The committee evaluates all options available, including ratification, revision or termination of such transaction. In the event that management determines that it is impractical or undesirable to wait until a meeting of the committee to consummate a related partyperson transaction, the chair of the committee may approve such transaction in accordance with the related person transaction approval policy. Any such approval must be reported to the committee at the next regularly scheduled meeting.

Indemnification Agreements with Officers and Directors

We have entered into deeds of indemnity with our directors and our executive officers. These agreements will require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted under Singapore law against liabilities that may arise by reason of their service to us as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified. These indemnification rights shall not be exclusive of any other right which an indemnified person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, provision of our Constitution, agreement, vote of shareholders or disinterested directors or otherwise if he or she is subsequently found to have been negligent or otherwise have breached his or her trust or fiduciary duties or to be in default thereof, or where the Singapore courts have declined to grant relief.

Participation in Our Public Offering

On January 28, 2019, we closed afollow-on underwritten public offering of 3,950,000 ordinary shares for gross proceeds of $150.1 million, and on February 26, 2019, we closed on the sale of an additional 592,500 ordinary shares pursuant to the underwriters’ option (on the same terms and conditions as the initial closing) for gross proceeds of an additional $22.5 million. Affiliates of RA Capital Management, LLC, or “RA Capital,” purchased 263,158 ordinary shares in the public offering at the public offering price of $38.00 per share. RA Capital is the general partner of RA Capital Healthcare Fund, L.P., one of our principal shareholders. Peter Kolchinsky, Ph.D., a member of our Board, is the manager of RA Capital.

Registration Rights

Registration Rights Under Our Investors’ Rights Agreement

As of June 15, 2018,10, 2019, the holders of approximately 7.3 million of our ordinary shares are entitled to rights with respect to the registration of these shares under the Securities Act pursuant toAct. These rights are provided under the terms of the Investors’ Rights Agreement dated as of August 14, 2015 between us and the holders of these shares.shares, as amended on November 8, 2018. The rights include demand registration rights, FormS-3 registration rights and piggyback registration rights. We are generally required to bear all registration expenses incurred in connection with the demand, FormS-3 and piggyback registrations described below, other than underwriting commissions and discounts, and will pay the reasonable fees and expenses, not to exceed $25,000, of one special counsel to represent all participating shareholders in a registration. The holders of registration rights as of June 15, 201810, 2019 under the Investors’ Rights Agreement include the following related parties:

Demand Registration Rights

Under the terms of the Investors’ Rights Agreement, we will be required, upon the request of holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding shares of Registrable Securities, as such term is defined in the Investors’ Rights Agreement, requesting registration of at least 50% of the then-outstanding shares of Registrable Securities having an anticipated aggregate offering price of at least $25.0 million, net of selling expenses, to effect the registration of such shares on FormS-1 for public resale. We are required to effect only one registration pursuant to this provision of the Investors’ Rights Agreement.

Form S-3 Registration Rights

At any time that we are entitled under the Securities Act to register our shares onForm S-3 and the holders of at least 30% of the then-outstanding Registrable Securities request that we register their shares for public resale onForm S-3 with an aggregate offering price of the shares to be registered of at least $5.0 million, net of selling expenses, we will be required to effect such registration. If, however, our Chief Executive Officer certifies that, in the good faith judgment of our Board, of Directors, it would be materially detrimental to us and our shareholders for

such registration to become or remain effective because such action would (i) materially interfere with a significant acquisition, corporate reorganization or similar transaction involving us, (ii) require premature disclosure of material information that we have a bona fide business purpose for preserving as confidential, or (iii) render us unable to comply with requirements under the Securities Act or Exchange Act, then we will have the right to defer the registration for up to 120 days. We are only obligated to effect up to one registration onForm S-3 within any12-month period.

Piggyback Registration Rights

If we register any of our securities either for our own account or for the account of other shareholders, the holders of these shares are entitled to include their shares in the registration. Subject to certain exceptions, we

and the underwriters may limit the number of shares included in the underwritten offering if the underwriters believe that including these shares would adversely affect the offering.

Indemnification

Our Investors’ Rights Agreement contains customary cross-indemnification provisions, under which we are obligated to indemnify holders of Registrable Securities in the event of material misstatements or omissions in the registration statement attributable to us, and they are obligated to indemnify us for material misstatements or omissions attributable to them.

Termination of Registration Rights

The registration rights granted under the Investors’ Rights Agreement will terminate on the third anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering (November 16, 2018)December 31, 2019 or, with respect to any holder of Registrable Securities, such earlier time as all such Registrable Securities held by such holder are available for resale without limitation during a three-month period without registration, pursuant to Rule 144 or another similar exemption under the Securities Act.

Registration Rights under our Share Purchase Agreement with Pfizer

Under the terms of our Share Purchase Agreement dated as of May 5, 2016 (the “Pfizer Equity Agreement”) with an affiliate of Pfizer Inc. (the “Pfizer Affiliate”), the Pfizer Equity Agreement (defined below),Affiliate agreed that the 1,875,000 ordinary shares that the Pfizer Affiliate purchased from us under the Pfizer Equity Agreement (the “Pfizer Shares”) were subject to alock-up restriction, such that the Pfizer Affiliate agreed not to, nor cause its affiliates to, without our prior approval, sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the Pfizer Shares until certain specified periods of time after the effective date of the Pfizer Equity Agreement. For a certain period following the expiration of thelock-up period, subject to certain conditions and limitations, we agreed to provide certain demand registration rights to the Pfizer Affiliate in order to register all or a portion of the Pfizer Shares purchased by the Pfizer Affiliate. We also provided the Pfizer Affiliate with certain “piggyback” registration rights for a certain period following the expiration of thelock-up period, subject to certain conditions and limitations, such that when we propose to register our ordinary shares for our account, the Pfizer Affiliate will have the right to include some or all of the Pfizer Shares in such registration. The Pfizer Equity Agreement also contains other customary terms and conditions of the parties with respect to the registration of the Pfizer Shares.

Consulting Agreement with Gregory L. Verdine, Ph.D.

Gregory L. Verdine, Ph.D., a member of our Board, of Directors, entered into a consulting agreement with Wave Life Sciences USA, Inc., or Wave“Wave USA,” our wholly owned subsidiary, dated as of April 1, 2012, pursuant to which Dr. Verdine serves as a scientific advisor. The consulting agreement does not have a specified term and may be terminated by either party upon 14 days’ prior written notice. Wave USA pays Dr. Verdine $12,500 per month and, in 2017,2018, Dr. Verdine was paid an aggregate of $150,000 under this agreement.

Scientific Advisory Arrangement with Takeshi Wada, Ph.D.

Takeshi Wada, Ph.D., elected to step down from our Board of Directors, effective January 31, 2017, and is continuing to work with us as a scientific advisor. During 2017, Dr. Wada continued to provide scientific advisory services to Wave Life Sciences Japan, Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary. In January 2017, he was compensated under apre-existing arrangement that entitled him to ¥250,000 per month, which amounted to approximately $2,000 per month. For the remainder of 2017, Dr. Wada was compensated under a new scientific advisory services agreement, which entitled him to ¥335,000 per month, and amounted to approximately $3,000 per month. In 2017, we paid Dr. Wada approximately $26,290 in the aggregate for these scientific advisory services.

Agreements with SNBL

Ken Takanashi, a member of our Board, of Directors, is a director and executive officer of SNBL and its affiliates. Previously, we leased our corporate office space in Boston, Massachusetts under anon-cancellable operating sublease with SNBL, a related party. On September 22, 2015, we terminated our sublease with SNBL and exited the premises on October 2, 2015. In connection with the termination, we agreed to guarantee SNBL certain obligations of an unrelated third party who entered into a sublease agreement with SNBL effective October 2, 2015. The guarantee provides that in the event thesub-lessee does not meet its lease obligations to SNBL, we will make the required payments. Since our entry into the guarantee in October 2015 and through the date of this proxy statement in June 2019, thesub-lessee has met its lease obligations to SNBL and we have not been required to make any payments under the guarantee. The guarantee agreement is effective through August 2019, when the final lease payments arepayment is due, and coincides with the original expiration of the lease. We simultaneously entered into an indemnification agreement with thesub-lessee to indemnify us for any costs incurred under the guarantyguarantee made by us to SNBL. The maximum amount of the guarantee over the three-year andsix-month sublease period is $0.6 million,averages to approximately $172,000 per year, exclusive of any indemnification from thesub-lessee.

In addition, pursuant to the terms of certain service agreements we have with SNBL, in 2017,2018, we paid SNBL $0.5$1.3 million for contract research services provided to us and our affiliates.

Banking Relationshipaffiliates through October 1, 2018. Effective as of October 1, 2018, our contract research services arrangement with KSS

Masaharu Tanaka, a member of our Board of Directors through August 2017, served as the President of Kagoshima Development Co. Ltd., the general partner of KSS, from June 2014 to March 2017. We maintained depository accounts at Kagoshima Bank, Ltd. during 2017, an affiliate of KSS, where we held certain of our cash balances. These accounts were closed in 2018. During the year ended December 31, 2017, we hadend-of-quarter cash balances of up to approximately $127 thousand in these depository accounts.SNBL ended.

Agreements with Pfizer and its Affiliate

On May 5, 2016, we entered into a Research, License and Option Agreement with Pfizer Inc., which we refer to herein as the “Pfizer Collaboration Agreement.” Simultaneously with the entry into the Pfizer Collaboration Agreement, on May 5, 2016, we entered into a Share Purchase Agreement, or the “Pfizer Equity Agreement,” with C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., an affiliate of Pfizer, or the “Pfizer Affiliate.” We refer to the Pfizer Collaboration Agreement and the Pfizer Equity Agreement herein collectively as the “Pfizer Agreements.”

Pursuant to the terms of the Pfizer Collaboration Agreement, we and Pfizer have agreed to collaborate on the discovery, development and commercialization of stereopure oligonucleotide therapeutics for up to five programs (each, a “Pfizer Program”), each directed at a genetically-defined hepatic target selected by Pfizer. Under the Pfizer Collaboration Agreement, the parties agreed to collaborate during a four-year research term. The term of the Pfizer Collaboration Agreement runs from the effective date until the date of the last to expire payment obligations with respect to each Pfizer Program and with respect to each Company program, and expires on aprogram-by-program basis accordingly.

Under the terms of the Pfizer Agreements, Pfizer paid us $40.0 million upfront, $30.0 million of which was in the form of an equity investment in our ordinary shares. Subject to option exercises by Pfizer, assuming five potential products are successfully developed and commercialized, we may earn potential research, development and commercial milestone payments, plus royalties, tiered up to low double-digits, on sales of any products that may result from the collaboration pursuant to the Pfizer Collaboration Agreement.

Under the Pfizer Equity Agreement, we issued 1,875,000 ordinary shares, or the “Pfizer Shares,” to the Pfizer Affiliate at a purchase price of $16.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $30.0 million. Under the terms of the Pfizer Equity Agreement, the Pfizer Shares were subject to alock-up restriction, such that the Pfizer Affiliate agreed not to, nor cause its affiliates to, without our prior approval, sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of the Pfizer Shares until certain specified periods of time after the effective date of the Pfizer Equity Agreement. We also agreed to provide the Pfizer Affiliate with registration rights, as described under “Registration Rights” above.

PROPOSAL 1: ELECTION OF DIRECTORS

Our Constitution requires that each of our directors retire at each annual general meeting of our shareholders, and each retiring director is then eligible forre-election. The Board of Directors, acting on the recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, has nominated each of Paul B. Bolno, M.D., MBA, Christian Henry, Peter Kolchinsky, Ph.D., Koji Miura, Adrian Rawcliffe, Ken Takanashi, and Gregory L. Verdine, Ph.D. for election at the 20182019 AGM. Voting on the election of each nominee will be done separately. If each such nominee is elected, he will serve on our Board of Directors until our 20192020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and until his successor has been elected and qualified.

Pursuant to the Singapore Companies Act and our Constitution, our Board must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. Mr. Miura is our Singapore resident director. Due to the Singapore Companies Act requirement that we have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore in office at all times and the sole resident director cannot resign or step down unless there is at least one other resident director, in the event that Mr. Miura is not elected at the 20182019 AGM, he will continue in office after the 20182019 AGM as a member of our Board until his qualifying successor (i.e., a Singapore resident director) is appointed.

Each of the nominees is presently a director, and each has indicated a willingness to continue to serve as director, if elected. We have no reason to believe that any nominee will be unable or unwilling to serve as a director.

Each nominee for director who receives the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by the holders of ordinary shares voting either in person or by proxy at the 20182019 AGM will be elected (meaning the number of shares voted “for” a nominee must exceed the number of shares voted “against” such nominee).

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RECOMMENDS A VOTE “FOR” THE ELECTION OF PAUL B. BOLNO, M.D., MBA, CHRISTIAN HENRY, PETER KOLCHINSKY, PH.D., KOJI MIURA, ADRIAN RAWCLIFFE, KEN TAKANASHI AND GREGORY L. VERDINE, PH.D. AS DIRECTORS, AND PROXIES SOLICITED BY THE BOARD WILL BE VOTED IN FAVOR THEREOF UNLESS A SHAREHOLDER HAS INDICATED OTHERWISE ON THE PROXY CARD.

PROPOSAL 2: INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM AND

INDEPENDENT SINGAPORE AUDITOR AND

AUDITOR REMUNERATION

The Audit Committee has appointed KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm and independent Singapore auditor to audit our financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018.2019.

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,2018, KPMG LLP was our independent registered public accounting firm and the independent Singapore auditor of our Singapore Statutory Financial Statements. Pursuant to Section 205(2) and 205(4) of the Singapore Companies Act, anyre-appointment after the initial appointment of our independent Singapore auditor, or its subsequent removal, requires the approval of our shareholders. The Board proposes that the shareholders approve there-appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm and the independent Singapore auditor of our Singapore Statutory Financial Statements.

We expect that representatives of KPMG LLP will be present at the 20182019 AGM, will be able to make a statement if they so desire, and will be available to respond to appropriate questions.

Pursuant to Section 205(16) of the Singapore Companies Act, the remuneration of a company’s auditor shall be fixed by the shareholders in a general meeting or the shareholders may authorize directors to fix the remuneration. Our Board believes that it is appropriate for the Audit Committee, as part of its oversight responsibilities, to fix the auditor’s remuneration. Our Board therefore also proposes that the shareholders authorize the Audit Committee to fix KPMG LLP’s remuneration for services rendered as our independent registered public accounting firm and independent Singapore auditor through the date of our 20192020 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.

In deciding tore-appoint KPMG LLP, the Audit Committee reviewed auditor independence issues and existing commercial relationships with KPMG LLP and concluded that KPMG LLP has no commercial relationship with the Company that would impair its independence for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018.2019.

Principal Accounting Fees and Services

The following table presents fees for professional audit services rendered by KPMG LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm and independent Singapore auditor, for the services described in the table.