Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;


           Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain
           Officers.

On June 26, 2020, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Cara Therapeutics, Inc. (the "Company") increased the size of the Board and appointed Susan Shiff, Ph.D., M.B.A. to serve as a member of the Board with a term expiring at the Company's 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Dr. Shiff was also appointed to serve as a member of the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of the Board. There is no arrangement or understanding between Dr. Shiff and any other person pursuant to which she was selected as a director, and there is no family relationship between Dr. Shiff and any of the Company's other directors or executive officers.

Dr. Shiff, age 59, has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry as a leader in the development and implementation of evidence, access, and pricing strategies for products globally. Dr. Shiff joined Merck in June 2014 as Senior Vice President and head of the Center for Observational and Real-World Evidence. Before joining Merck, from October 2013 through May 2014, she served as Vice President of Global Health Economics, Data Sciences and Evidence-Based Medicine at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Previously, from June 2006 through September 2013, Dr. Shiff served at Pfizer, including as Vice President of Evidence-Based Medicine and Market Access in Global Primary Care as well as Vice President of Health Economics and Outcomes Research and Epidemiology in Emerging Markets. She has also held senior positions at Roche and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Shiff began her career and spent four years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Shiff currently serves on the Boards of Synthace Limited and the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. Dr. Shiff holds an M.B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.

In accordance with the Company's non-employee director compensation policy, Dr. Shiff will receive an annual cash retainer of $40,000 for her service as a director, an additional annual cash retainer of $7,500 for her service as a member of the compensation committee, and an additional annual cash retainer of $5,000 for her service as a member of the nominating and corporate governance committee. In addition, on June 26, 2020, Dr. Shiff was awarded an initial option grant to purchase 38,000 common shares of the Company at an exercise price equal to $17.03, the closing price of the Company's common stock as reported by The Nasdaq Global Market on that date. This option will vest over a period of three years, in twelve equal quarterly installments, from the date of Dr. Shiff's appointment to the Board.

The Company expects to enter into its standard indemnification agreement for directors with Dr. Shiff, the form of which was previously filed by the Company as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-192230), filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 17, 2014.

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