SAN DIEGO, Sept. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- aTyr Pharma, Inc.
(Nasdaq: LIFE), today announced that David
J. King, PhD, has joined the company as Senior Vice
President, Research. Dr. King will lead aTyr's research and
preclinical efforts to advance its Physiocrine biology and support
the clinical development of meaningful medicines that target immune
and tissue homeostatic pathways for patients with various severe
and rare diseases.
"Dr. King is uniquely qualified to help us execute on our
mission to bring Physiocrine-based therapeutic candidates to
patients with severe and rare diseases," said John Mendlein, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of
aTyr Pharma. "Few scientists in the industry possess David's
experience in the successful development of biologic based drugs.
He is a seasoned executive-scientist and a veteran of several
successful biotech companies, where he has played a key role in
developing multiple innovative and clinically meaningful commercial
products in immunology and oncology, including Opdivo®
(PD-1 pathway), Cimzia® (TNF pathway) and
Mylotarg®. We believe David will play a critical role in
further elucidating the therapeutic applications of Physiocrine
biology as we continue to advance our broader pipeline."
"aTyr's identification of novel immune and fibrotic pathways
represents an entirely new set of therapeutic intervention points,
including agonists, such as our lead candidate Resolaris™, or
potentially novel antagonists to other Physiocrine pathways," said
Dr. King. "This promising organization is led by a highly talented
and passionate team dedicated to a common mission of developing
innovative medicines for severely afflicted patients. I am excited
to support the development of the rapidly-progressing Resolaris
program in rare myopathies with an immune component and the iMod.Fc
program in pulmonary diseases with an immune and/or fibrotic
component. aTyr represents a unique opportunity to bring forward
the potential of Physiocrine pathways to new therapies in a broad
range of severe diseases for patients that currently have limited
treatment options."
Dr. King's industry experience is highlighted by his tenures at
Medarex, Inc. (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2009) and
Celltech Therapeutics Ltd. (acquired by UCB in 2004). At Medarex,
he led programs to identify therapeutic antibodies and played a key
role in programs targeting novel biologics (including PD-1), and at
Celltech, he directed the protein biochemistry and antibody
engineering activities that led to the discovery and development of
Cimzia. After Medarex, Dr. King served as Chief Scientific Officer
at AnaptysBio, Inc. where he led research that developed a novel
technology for generating antibody therapeutics, which was
successfully used to generate innovative clinical candidates for a
number of pharmaceutical partnerships and for internal development.
Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Research at
Tunitas Therapeutics, where he led the company's research and
preclinical activities. Dr. King received his B.S. from the
University of Warwick and his Ph.D.
from the University of Surrey,
both in the United Kingdom, and
was a Glaxo Group Research postdoctoral fellow.
In connection with Dr. King's appointment, the Company granted
Dr. King an option to purchase 145,000 shares of the Company's
Common Stock with an exercise price of $3.29 per share, the closing price per share of
the Company's common stock as reported by NASDAQ on September 21, 2016, the effective date of the
grant and the start date of Dr. King's employment. The option is a
non-qualified stock option and vests over a period of four years,
with 25% vesting on the one year anniversary of the grant date and
the remaining 75% vesting on a monthly basis over three years,
subject to Dr. King's continuous employment through each vesting
date. This award was granted as an inducement material to Dr.
King's entering into employment with the Company in accordance with
NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Physiocrines
Physiocrines comprise naturally occurring proteins that aTyr
believes promote homeostasis, a fundamental process of restoring
stressed or diseased tissue to a healthier state. Physiocrines are
extracellular signaling regions of tRNA synthetases, an ancient
family of enzymes that catalyze a key step in protein synthesis.
aTyr is currently focused on Physiocrines that act as endogenous
modulators of the immune system. Physiocrines offer the opportunity
for modulating biological pathways through newly discovered,
naturally occurring mechanisms, many of which may provide
advantages over other types of immune-modulatory therapeutics,
including the potential for improved patient outcomes and reduced
side effect profiles.
About aTyr Pharma
aTyr Pharma is engaged in the discovery and clinical development
of innovative medicines for patients suffering from severe rare
diseases using its knowledge of Physiocrine biology, a newly
discovered set of physiological modulators. The Company's lead
candidate, Resolaris™, is a potential first-in-class intravenous
protein therapeutic for the treatment of rare myopathies with an
immune component. Resolaris is currently in a Phase 1b/2 clinical
trial in adult patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
(FSHD); a Phase 1b/2 trial in adult patients with limb-girdle
muscular dystrophy 2B (LGMD2B or dysferlinopathies) or FSHD; and a
Phase 1b/2 trial in patients with an early onset form of FSHD. aTyr
has built an intellectual property estate, to protect its pipeline,
comprising over 80 issued or allowed patents and over 230 pending
patent applications that are owned or exclusively licensed by aTyr,
including over 300 potential Physiocrine-based protein
compositions. aTyr's key programs are currently focused on severe,
rare diseases characterized by immune dysregulation for which there
are currently limited or no treatment options. For more
information, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Litigation Reform Act.
Forward-looking statements are usually identified by the use of
words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects,"
"intends," "may," "plans," "projects," "seeks," "should," "will,"
and variations of such words or similar expressions. We intend
these forward-looking statements to be covered by such safe harbor
provisions for forward-looking statements and are making this
statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor
provisions. These forward-looking statements, including statements
regarding the potential of Resolaris or iMod.Fc, the ability of the
Company to undertake certain development activities (such as
clinical trial enrollment and the conduct of clinical trials) and
accomplish certain development goals, and the timing of initiation
of additional clinical trials and of reporting results from our
clinical trials reflect our current views about our plans,
intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based
on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we
have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions,
expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested
by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no
assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies
will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may
differ materially from those described in the forward-looking
statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors
that are beyond our control including, without limitation, risks
associated with the discovery, development and regulation of our
Physiocrine-based product candidates, as well as those set forth in
our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2015 and in our
subsequent SEC filings. Except as required by law, we assume no
obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Mark Johnson
Sr. Director, Investor Relations
mjohnson@atyrpharma.com
858-223-1163
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SOURCE aTyr Pharma, Inc.