aTyr Pharma Awarded Two Patents from USPTO to Support Development of New Therapeutics Based on Physiocrine Biology

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- aTyr Pharma, an innovative medical therapeutics enterprise, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted two patents that protect therapeutic and pharmaceutical compositions for two novel Physiocrines. Physiocrines are naturally occurring human proteins that possess novel in vivo biological activity as extracellular signaling molecules in known pathways relevant to developing protein therapeutics for a range of diseases. 

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"Physiocrines are a new class and a significant source of novel proteins to treat many different types of diseases.  We have dedicated ourselves to meticulously exploring and validating the biology associated with Physiocrines and developing an emerging pipeline of therapeutics," said John Mendlein, Ph.D., CEO and executive chairman of aTyr Pharma.  "Building this patent estate also reflects our business model and leverages our research efforts, including those accomplished at Pangu BioPharma, our subsidiary in Hong Kong that is a collaboration with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and has received research grants from the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission."

Dr. Mendlein continued, "From our explorations, we have established a dominant intellectual property estate to protect the core therapeutics as well as associated diagnostics so that we can develop meaningful medicines that can benefit patients who face grave diseases."

Physiocrines are produced from ancient genes, aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, an intercellular gene family in protein synthesis. Overlooked by genomic discovery efforts, Physiocrines are naturally occurring proteins that modulate extracellular signaling pathways in a variety of physiological processes. These endogenous human proteins act through a variety of receptor classes via mechanisms distinct from current pharmaceuticals and have potential applications in a number of therapeutic areas. aTyr is focused on using Physiocrines to generate therapeutic physiologic responses in immune system disorders, including acute and chronic inflammation and other forms of disordered immunity.

The two patents are Patent Nos. US 8,404,242 and US 8,404,471 and are entitled, "Compositions and methods comprising histidyl-TRNA synthetase splice variants having non-canonical biological activities," and "Compositions and methods comprising glycyl-TRNA synthetase splice variants having non-canonical biological activities," respectively.  The patents cover therapeutically relevant compositions including fragments and alternatively spliced product forms of the full-length gene which display enhanced biological activity and pharmaceutical properties compared to the full length proteins.

About Physiocrines

Physiocrines act as extracellular signaling molecules to orchestrate cellular homeostasis in response to stress. Physiocrines are naturally occurring proteins derived from tRNA synthetases that play fundamental roles in the function of human physiology and the resolution of inflammation. As potent endogenous modulators of inflammation, Physiocrines offer the opportunity for modulating biological pathways through new naturally occurring mechanisms, many of which have multiple therapeutic advantages, including improved selectivity, efficacy and reduced side effect profiles compared to many existing anti-inflammatory therapeutics.

About aTyr Pharma

aTyr Pharma has developed an extensive pipeline of future therapeutic products based on Physiocrine biology. aTyr has established a dominant intellectual property estate to protect the core therapeutics as well as associated diagnostics. aTyr's key programs are currently focused on rare immunomodulation disorders in the areas of inflammation and immunity. These diseases are serious potentially life threatening autoimmune conditions, for which there are currently no effective, safe, long term treatments. The privately held biotech was founded by The Scripps Research Institute Professor Paul Schimmel, a leading aminoacyl tRNA synthetase scientist, and is backed by top life sciences investors Alta Partners, Cardinal Partners, Domain Associates and Polaris Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.

SOURCE aTyr Pharma