Benzinga | Jan 14, 2021 08:07AM EST

aTyr Pharma Announces Partner Kyorin Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd. Completes Subject Visits for Phase 1 Trial of ATYR1923 in Japan

aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIFE), a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative medicines based on novel biological pathways, today announced that its partner Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., or Kyorin, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyorin Holdings, Inc., has completed the last subject visit in its Phase 1 clinical trial of aTyr's lead therapeutic candidate ATYR1923 (known as KRP-R120 in Japan). This achievement has triggered a milestone payment to aTyr.

"We applaud Kyorin for its timely advancement of this study. We are highly encouraged by their progress with the clinical program for ATYR1923 in Japan since becoming our partner early last year," said Dr. Sanjay Shukla, M.D., M.S., President and Chief Executive Officer of aTyr.

The Phase 1 trial, which is being conducted by Kyorin, is a placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity of ATYR1923 in 32 healthy Japanese male volunteers. Results from this study are intended to enable Kyorin to initiate patient trials in interstitial lung disease (ILD) in Japan.

Kyorin is aTyr's partner for the development and commercialization of ATYR1923 for ILDs in Japan.

About ATYR1923

aTyr is developing ATYR1923 as a potential therapeutic for patients with inflammatory lung diseases. ATYR1923, a fusion protein comprised of the immuno-modulatory domain of histidyl tRNA synthetase fused to the FC region of a human antibody, is a selective modulator of neuropilin-2 that downregulates the innate and adaptive immune response in inflammatory disease states. aTyr recently completed enrollment in a proof-of-concept Phase 1b/2a trial evaluating ATYR1923 in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, a form of interstitial lung disease. This Phase 1b/2a study is a multi-ascending dose, placebo-controlled, first-in-patient study of ATYR1923 that has been designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, steroid sparing effect, immunogenicity and pharmacokinetics profile of multiple doses of ATYR1923. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, aTyr completed a Phase 2 clinical trial with ATYR1923 in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory complications. This Phase 2 study was a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study that was designed to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of a single dose of ATYR1923.