SAN DIEGO, Feb. 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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 Sanjay S. Shukla, M.D., M.S., President and Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a panel as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rare Disease Day® virtual conference on Monday, February 28, 2022, at 2:55pm EST / 11:55am PST.

The panel, “Successful Clinical Trial Enrollment with True Advocacy Collaboration During Challenging Times,” will discuss strategies for clinical trial recruitment successes, including lessons learned from aTyr’s experience conducting a Phase 1b/2a study of efzofitimod (ATYR1923) in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel will feature participants from the biopharmaceutical industry and advocacy organizations, including:

• Shazia Ahmad (Moderator) – Senior Director and Head, Patient and Physician Services, UBC
• Sanjay S. Shukla, M.D. M.S. – President and CEO, aTyr Pharma
• Tricha Shivas, M.B.E. – Chief Strategy Officer, Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR)
• Erica Courtenay-Mann – Member, FSR Women of Color Patient Advocacy Committee

Registration is free and open to the public. Registered attendees may submit Q&A during the session through the event’s interactive app. For more information and to register, please visit the Rare Disease Day at NIH page on the NIH’s website.

Rare Disease Day® takes place worldwide, typically on the last day of February, to raise awareness among policymakers and the public about rare diseases and their impact on patients’ lives. Each year, the National Center for Advancing Translational Science and the NIH Clinical Center sponsor Rare Disease Day at NIH as part of their efforts to raise awareness about rare diseases, the people they affect and NIH collaborations that address scientific challenges and advance research for new treatments.

aTyr is developing its lead therapeutic candidate, efzofitimod, for patients with severe inflammatory lung diseases with high unmet medical need. This includes pulmonary sarcoidosis, a major form of interstitial lung disease. Pulmonary sarcoidosis is a rare disease that affects close to 200,000 people in the United States and has limited treatment options. The company expects to initiate a registrational trial of efzofitimod in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis this year.

About aTyr

aTyr is a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative medicines based on novel biological pathways. aTyr’s research and development efforts are concentrated on a newly discovered area of biology, the extracellular functionality and signaling pathways of tRNA synthetases. aTyr has built a global intellectual property estate directed to a potential pipeline of protein compositions derived from 20 tRNA synthetase genes and their extracellular targets. aTyr’s primary focus is efzofitimod, a clinical-stage product candidate which binds to the neuropilin-2 receptor and is designed to downregulate immune engagement in inflammatory lung diseases. For more information, please visit www.atyrpharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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 include statements regarding potential therapeutic benefits and applications of efzofitimod; timelines and plans with respect to certain development activities (such as the timing of additional clinical trials and planned interactions with regulatory authorities); and certain development goals. These forward-looking statements also 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 these forward-looking statements, are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions by our management that, although we believe to be reasonable, are inherently uncertain. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control including, without limitation, uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, risks associated with the discovery, development and regulation of our product candidates, the risk that we or our partners may cease or delay preclinical or clinical development activities for any of our existing or future product candidates for a variety of reasons (including difficulties or delays in patient enrollment in planned clinical trials), the possibility that existing collaborations could be terminated early, and the risk that we may not be able to raise the additional funding required for our business and product development plans, as well as those risks set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other 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.

Source: aTyr Pharma, Inc.