SAN DIEGO, Sept. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- aTyr Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:LIFE), a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of immunology-based therapeutics, harnessing new pathway insights from human Physiocrine proteins, to treat patients suffering from severe, rare immune-mediated diseases, as well as various cancers, today announced participation in the upcoming 22^nd International Annual Congress of the World Muscle Society (WMS) being held October 3 - 7, 2017 in Saint Malo, France.

Poster Presentation: Thursday October 5, 2017 from 15:30 – 17:00 (CEST)

• Title: Results of a Phase 1b/2 Study of ATYR1940 in Adolescents and Young Adults With Early-onset Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD) (ATYR1940-C-003)
• Author and Presenter: Gennyne Walker, Ph.D., aTyr Pharma, Inc., San Diego, CA
• Supporting Authors: Russel J Butterfield, Katherine Mathews, Laurent Servais, John Day, Teresa Gidaro, Sanjay Shukla, Lorenzo Maggi

In this exploratory, open-label study, Resolaris was generally well tolerated at doses up to 3.0 mg/kg once weekly in patients aged 16 to 20 years with early-onset FSHD.  63% of patients (5 of 8) had increases from baseline in their Manual Muscle Test (MMT), a validated assessment tool that measures muscle strength, with a mean change from baseline of +3.8%. In addition, 67% of patients measured (4 of 6) had improvement in their Individualized Neuromuscular Quality of Life (INQoL) score, a validated patient reported outcome measuring a patient’s level of disease burden. On average, patients did not have a worsening of their disease burden as measured by INQoL. No signs of general immunosuppression were observed, and low-level ADA signals did not result in clinical symptoms.

aTyr believes these data are supportive of further advancement of Resolaris.

About aTyr Pharma

aTyr Pharma is engaged in the discovery and clinical development of innovative medicines for patients using its knowledge of Physiocrine biology, a newly discovered set of immunological and physiological pathways. To date, aTyr has generated three innovative therapeutic programs with three different biologic modalities based on its knowledge of the Resokine pathway to treat patients suffering from severe, rare immune-mediated diseases, as well as various cancers. The Resolaris and iMod.Fc programs are agonists of the Resokine pathway designed to temper immune system engagement in diseases characterized by excessive immune cell involvement. aTyr’s third program, ORCA, represents a novel, proprietary pathway in immuno-oncology that utilizes antibody approaches to block the Resokine pathway and ‘release multiple brakes’ on the immune system in the tumor cell environment. aTyr has built an intellectual property estate, to protect its pipeline, comprising over 220 issued patents or allowed patent applications that are owned or exclusively licensed, including over 300 potential Physiocrine-based protein compositions. 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 and potential therapeutic benefits of Resolaris, the ability of the Company to successfully advance its pipeline or product candidates, undertake certain development activities and accomplish certain development goals, and the scope and strength of our intellectual property portfolio, 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, 2016 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.

Contact:
Mark Johnson
Sr. Director, Investor Relations
mjohnson@atyrpharma.com
858-223-1163

Source: aTyr Pharma Inc.