The following is an excerpt from a press release by aTyr Pharma, Inc detailing their new study focusing on a potential therapy for treating interstitial lung diseases:
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — aTyr Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:LIFE), a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of immuno-modulatory protein therapeutics to treat patients suffering from rare, severe, immune-mediated diseases, as well as various cancers, today announced that it has dosed the first subjects in a Phase 1 trial of iMod.Fc (ATYR1923), aTyr’s first engineered Physiocrine and second therapeutic candidate, in development for the treatment of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs).
“The initiation of this study of iMod.Fc represents a significant milestone in the advancement of our programs and marks the second therapeutic candidate leveraging our understanding of the Resokine pathway to enter the clinic,” said Sanjay Shukla, M.D., M.S., President and CEO of aTyr Pharma. “We look forward to announcing top-line results from this study in the second quarter of 2018, which we will use to guide our future development plans for iMod.Fc as we explore the potential of the Resokine pathway in restoring tissue homeostasis in patients with interstitial lung disease.”
This first-in-human, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is designed to investigate the safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous iMod.Fc (ATYR1923) in healthy volunteers. Subjects will be randomized to one of six cohorts and receive a single infusion of iMod.Fc (ATYR1923) or placebo. Doses of iMod.Fc (ATYR1923) will range from 0.03 mg/kg up to 5.0 mg/kg. Primary outcome measures will assess safety and tolerability in subjects for up to one month following dosing.
For additional information on this study, please visit www.anzctr.org.au.
About iMod.Fc (ATYR1923)
aTyr Pharma engineered the first Physiocrine fusion protein, iMod.Fc (ATYR1923), to enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of the Physiocrine protein in vivo. The company is developing iMod.Fc (ATYR1923) as a potential therapeutic for patients with rare pulmonary diseases with an immune or fibrotic component, including interstitial lung diseases. This fusion protein, which utilizes the Fc region of an antibody, also potentially represents a novel Fc-Physiocrine platform for future Physiocrine-based therapies.
About Interstitial Lung Diseases
Interstitial lung disease refers to a complex group of pulmonary disorders primarily affecting the pulmonary interstitium. Most of these disorders cause progressive scarring of lung tissue, eventually affecting the ability to breathe and the transfer of oxygen into the bloodstream. ILDs can develop in response to environmental injury, auto-immune mediated inflammation, or from unknown causes. The spectrum of ILDs includes idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and connective tissue disease-associated ILDs among others.
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. 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.
To read the complete press release and learn more about this study, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.