January 6, 2019
NEWS RELEASE
Company:
Representative:

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KYORIN Holdings, Inc.
Yutaka Ogihara
Representative Director, President(Securities Code: 4569, TSE 1st Sec.)
Yoshinori Tanifuji
Director, Corporate Planning(0)3-3525-4707

KYORIN and aTyr to Collaborate on Novel Immunomodulator
KYORIN Holdings, Inc. today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co.,
Ltd. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President & CEO: Shigeru Ogihara, "Kyorin") has entered into acollaboration and license agreement with aTyr Pharma, Inc. (Head office: San Diego, CA, President &CEO: Sanjay Shukla, "aTyr") for Japan with regard to ATYR1923, aTyr’s novel immunomodulator.
The agreement grants to Kyorin an exclusive license to develop and commercialize ATYR1923 forinterstitial lung diseases in Japan.
Under the terms of the agreement, Kyorin will make an upfront payment of $8 million for the exclusive
license and success-based development, regulatory and sales milestone payments of up to $167 million toaTyr. Following the commercial launch of the product in Japan, aTyr will be eligible to receive royalties
based on product net sales by Kyorin.
ATYR1923 is a fusion protein drug having the action to suppress, by binding to neuropilin-2 (NRP2)
receptor, the excessive activation of immune cells, and is a potential first-in-class therapy to treat
inflammatory diseases such as pulmonary sarcoidosis. aTyr is currently enrolling a Phase 1b/2a clinical
trial for ATYR1923 in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis in the United States.
Kyorin is pursuing a strategy to concentrate its managerial resources on the strategic fields of respiratory,otolaryngology and urology. This collaboration will further Kyorin's respiratory product lineup toensure its presence in that therapeutic area.
We will record the upfront payment to aTyr under this transaction as selling and general administrative
expenses (research and development expenses) in the fiscal year ending March 2020, and will promptly
announce on the occurrence of any matter to be disclosed in a timely manner.
###About aTyr Pharma, Inc.
Foundation:
2005
President & CEO:Sanjay Shukla
Employees:
42 (as of March 15, 2019)
Overview:
aTyr is a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development ofinnovative medicines based on novel immunological pathways. aTyr’s researchand development efforts are concentrated on a newly discovered area of biology,
the extracellular functionality and signaling pathways of tRNA synthetases. aTyrhas built a global intellectual property estate directed to a potential pipeline ofprotein compositions derived from 20 tRNA synthetase genes and their
extracellulartargets.
For
more
information,pleasevisit
http://www.atyrpharma.com.
About KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Foundation:
December 1923
President & CEO:
Shigeru Ogihara
Annual Sales:
JPY 99.736 billion (Fiscal Year ending on March 31, 2019)
Employees:
1,567 (as of March 31, 2019)
Overview:
Trusted among patients and professionals in the medical industry, KYORIN
Pharmaceutical strives to be a company that contributes to the public health and isrecognized as a one with social significance by improving its presence in thespecific therapeutic areas and through global discovery of novel drugs. KYORIN
Pharmaceutical uses franchise customer strategy where its marketing efforts arefocused on respiratory medicine, otolaryngology and urology. In drug discovery,
it is deploying 'selection and concentration' and promoting activities aimed at
first-in-class drug discovery, such as actively searching for and introducing
external drug discovery themes as well as multi-tiered program development.
About Feature and Mode of Action of ATYR1923
aTyr is developing ATYR1923 as a potential therapeutic for patients with interstitial lung diseases.
ATYR1923, a fusion protein comprised of the immuno-modulatory domain of histidyl tRNA synthetase fusedto the FC region of a human antibody, is a selective modulator of Neuropilin-2 that downregulates the innate
and adaptive immune response in inflammatory disease states. aTyr is currently enrolling a proof-of-concept
Phase 1b/2a trial evaluating ATYR1923 in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. This Phase 1b/2a study is amulti-ascending dose, placebo-controlled, first-in-patient study of ATYR1923 that has been designed toevaluate the safety, tolerability, steroid sparing effect, immunogenicity and pharmacokinetics profile ofmultiple doses of ATYR1923.
NRP2 (Neuropilin-2) function
NRP2 is a multifunctional single-spanning trans-membrane glycoprotein that plays a central role in lymphatic
vessel development and modulates inflammatory reactions. NRP2 is expressed in various immune cells ininflammatory conditions where they regulate a myriad of functions, including migration, recruitment,
phagocytosis and communication between different immune cells. aTyr confirms the contribution of NRP2
in pathogenesis of lung by detecting of the high expression of NPR2 in lung granulomas in patients with lungsarcoidosis.

About Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease characterized by the formation of granulomas, clumps ofinflammatory cells, in one or more organs in the body. Sarcoidosis affects people of all ages, but typicallypresents before the age of 50 years, with the incidence peaking at 20 to 39 years. The disorder usually
begins in the lungs, skin or lymph nodes, but can affect almost any organ. Sarcoidosis in the lungs iscalled pulmonary sarcoidosis and affects 90% or more of patients with sarcoidosis have lung involvement.
Pulmonary sarcoidosis is a major form of interstitial lung disease (ILD) a group of immune-mediateddisorders which cause progressive fibrosis of the lung interstitium. Estimates of prevalence vary,
however, current data indicate that approximately 20,000 Japanese and 200,000 Americans live withpulmonary sarcoidosis. The prognosis for patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis ranges from benign andself-limiting to chronic, debilitating disease and death.