Live In Play

Live In Play®

Updated: 15-Mar-21 08:15 ET

LIFE: aTyr Pharma announced biomarker results from its Phase 2 trial of its lead therapeutic candidate, ATYR1923, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory complications receiving standard of care, including remdesivir and/or dexamethasone, who did not require mechanical ventilation (4.92)

Patients treated with ATYR1923 demonstrated a trend of overall improvement in key biomarkers analyzed compared to placebo. In particular, patients treated with ATYR1923 had greater reduction in levels of several inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, including interferon gamma (IFN?), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1(MCP-1). Furthermore, patients treated with ATYR1923 also had a statistically significant reduction in levels of serum amyloid A (SAA), a marker of inflammation and fibrosis that has implications in sarcoidosis.
The biomarker results build upon the positive topline data the company released demonstrating that ATYR1923 met its primary safety endpoint and improved median time to recovery to 5.5 days in patients receiving a single dose of 3.0 mg/kg ATYR1923 vs 6 days in the placebo group. Demographic and baseline disease characteristics data included in the topline results showed that the ATYR1923 treatment groups had more patients over the age of 65, with severe hypoxia or with multiple comorbidities compared to placebo, factors associated with a greater risk of COVID-19 complications and worse outcomes. Biomarker data confirms that at baseline, patients enrolled in the ATYR1923 treatment arms compared to placebo had higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and known COVID-19 biomarkers including ferritin, D-dimer and C-reactive protein (CRP), indicating a more inflamed patient population in the ATYR1923 treatment arms.