Description of Registrants Securities

Exhibit 4.4

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES REGISTERED UNDER SECTION 12 OF THE EXCHANGE ACT

General

The following description of Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. (“us”, “our” or “we”), capital stock is intended as a summary only and therefore is not a complete description of our capital stock. This description is based upon, and is qualified by reference to, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”), our Amended and Restated By-Laws, (the “Bylaws”) and applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). You should read our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, which are filed as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.4 is a part.  

Our authorized capital stock consists of 120,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share.

Common Stock

Annual Meeting.    Annual meetings of our stockholders are held on the date designated in accordance with our Bylaws. Written notice must be mailed to each stockholder entitled to vote not less than ten nor more than 60 days before the date of the meeting. The presence in person or by proxy of the holders of record of a majority of our issued and outstanding shares entitled to vote at such meeting constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business at meetings of the stockholders. Special meetings of the stockholders may be called only by a majority of the board of directors acting pursuant to a resolution approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors then in office. Except as may be otherwise provided by applicable law, our Certificate of Incorporation or our Bylaws, all elections of directors shall be decided by a plurality of the votes properly cast by the stockholders entitled to vote on the election and all other questions shall be decided by a majority of the votes properly cast by stockholders entitled to vote thereon and voting for or against the matter at a duly held meeting of stockholders at which a quorum is present.

Voting Rights.    Each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted upon by stockholders.

Dividends.    Subject to the rights, powers and preferences of any outstanding preferred stock, and except as provided by law or in our Certificate of Incorporation, dividends may be declared and paid or set aside for payment on the common stock out of legally available assets or funds when and as declared by the board of directors or a duly authorized committee thereof.

Liquidation, Dissolution and Winding Up.    Subject to the rights, powers and preferences of any outstanding preferred stock, in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, our net assets will be distributed pro rata to the holders of our common stock.

Other Rights.    Holders of the common stock have no right to:

The common stock does not have cumulative voting rights. Holders of shares of the common stock are not required to make additional capital contributions.

Preferred Stock

We are authorized to issue “blank check” preferred stock, which may be issued in one or more series upon authorization of our board of directors or a duly authorized committee thereof. Our board of directors or such committee thereof is authorized to fix the designations, powers, preferences and the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions of the shares of each series of preferred stock. The authorized

shares of our preferred stock are available for issuance without further action by our stockholders, unless such action is required by applicable law or the rules of any stock exchange on which our securities may be listed. If the approval of our stockholders is not required for the issuance of shares of our preferred stock, our board may determine not to seek stockholder approval. Currently, we have no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

Provisions of Our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and Delaware Law That May Have Anti-Takeover Effects

Delaware law, our Certificate of Incorporation, and our Bylaws contain provisions that could have the effect of delaying, deferring or discouraging another party from acquiring control of us. These provisions, which are summarized below, are expected to discourage coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids. These provisions are also designed to encourage persons seeking to acquire control of us to first negotiate with our board of directors.

Staggered Board; Removal of Directors.    Our Certificate of Incorporation divides our board of directors into three classes with staggered three-year terms. In addition, our Certificate of Incorporation provides that directors may be removed only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of the holders of 75% of our shares of capital stock present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote. Under our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws, any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by a vote of a majority of our directors then in office. Furthermore, our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws provide that the authorized number of directors may be fixed solely and exclusively by a resolution of the board of directors. The classification of our board of directors and the limitations on the ability of our stockholders to remove directors, change the authorized number of directors and fill vacancies could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or discourage a third party from seeking to acquire, control of our company.

Stockholder Action by Written Consent; Special Meeting of Stockholders.    Our Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws provide that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders at an annual meeting or special meeting of stockholders may only be taken if it is properly brought before such meeting and may not be taken by written action in lieu of a meeting. Our Certificate of Incorporation and our Bylaws also provide that, except as otherwise required by law, special meetings of the stockholders can only be called by a majority of the board of directors acting pursuant to a resolution approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors then in office.

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations.    Our Bylaws establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting of stockholders, including proposed nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors. Stockholders at an annual meeting may only consider proposals or nominations specified in the notice of meeting or brought before the meeting by or at the direction of our board of directors, or by a stockholder of record on the record date for the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting and who has delivered timely written notice in proper form to our secretary of the stockholder’s intention to bring such business before the meeting. Specifically, our Bylaws provide that a stockholder must notify us in writing of any stockholder nomination of a director not earlier than the close of business on the 120th day and not later than the close of business on the 90th day prior to the first anniversary of the preceding year’s annual meeting; provided, that if the date of the annual meeting is advanced by more than 30 days or delayed more than 60 days from such anniversary date, or if no annual meeting were held in the preceding year, notice by the stockholder to be timely must be so delivered not later than the later of (x) the 90th day prior to the date of such annual meeting and (y) the 10th day following the day on which public announcement of the date of such annual meeting is first made by us. These provisions could have the effect of delaying until the next stockholder meeting stockholder actions that are favored by the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities. These provisions also could discourage a third party from making a tender offer for our common stock, because even if it acquired a majority of our outstanding voting stock, it would be able to take action as a stockholder, such as electing new directors or approving a merger, only at a duly called stockholders meeting and not by written consent.

Exclusive Forum Selection.    Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or other employees to our company or our stockholders, (3) any action asserting a claim against our company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or (4) any action asserting a claim against our company governed by the

internal affairs doctrine, in each case subject to the Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants therein. This choice of forum provision is inapplicable to actions arising under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and we likewise do not intend to apply this choice of forum provision to actions arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.  Although our Certificate of Incorporation contains the choice of forum provision described above, it is possible that a court could rule that such a provision is inapplicable for a particular claim or action or that such provision is unenforceable.

Super-Majority Voting.    The DGCL provides generally that the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares entitled to vote on any matter is required to amend a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, unless a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, as the case may be, requires a greater percentage. Our Bylaws may be amended or repealed by a majority vote of our board of directors or the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to vote on such amendment or repeal, voting as a single class. In addition, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of the votes that all our stockholders would be entitled to cast in any election of directors is required to amend or repeal or to adopt any provisions inconsistent with provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation described above under “—Staggered Board; Removal of Directors,” “—Stockholder Action by Written Consent; Special Meeting of Stockholders”, and “—Exclusive Forum.”

Blank Check Preferred Stock.    Our Certificate of Incorporation provides for 5,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock. The existence of authorized but unissued shares of preferred stock may enable our board of directors to render more difficult or to discourage an attempt to obtain control of our company by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest, or otherwise. For example, if in the due exercise of its fiduciary obligations, our board of directors were to determine that a takeover proposal is not in the best interests of our company, our board of directors could cause shares of preferred stock to be issued without stockholder approval in one or more private offerings or other transactions that might dilute the voting or other rights of the proposed acquiror or insurgent shareholder or shareholder group. In this regard, our Certificate of Incorporation grants our board of directors or a duly authorized committee thereof broad power to establish the rights and preferences of authorized and unissued shares of preferred stock. The issuance of shares of preferred stock could decrease the amount of earnings and assets available for distribution to holders of shares of common stock. The issuance may also adversely affect the rights and powers, including voting rights, of such holders and may have the effect of delaying, deterring, or preventing a change in control of the company. Our board of directors currently does not intend to seek shareholder approval prior to any issuance of shares of preferred stock, unless otherwise required by law.

Delaware Business Combination Statute.    Section 203 of the DGCL is applicable to us. Section 203 of the DGCL restricts some types of transactions and business combinations between a corporation and a 15% stockholder. A 15% stockholder is generally considered by Section 203 to be a person owning 15% or more of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock. Section 203 refers to a 15% stockholder as an “interested stockholder.” Section 203 restricts these transactions for a period of three years from the date the stockholder acquires 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock. With some exceptions, unless the transaction is approved by the board of directors and the holders of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation, Section 203 prohibits significant business transactions such as:

The shares held by the interested stockholder are not counted as outstanding when calculating the two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock needed for approval.

The prohibition against these transactions does not apply if: