aTyr Pharma, Inc. as previously announced, John T. Blake, Senior Vice President, Finance and principal financial and accounting officer of the Company, resigned effective as of the close of business on March 20, 2018 to pursue another opportunity. The Company is currently conducting a search for a replacement financial executive to serve as the Company's principal financial and accounting officer. During the period of this executive search, Stan Blackburn, age 62, a financial consultant to the Company, will succeed Mr. Blake as the Company's principal financial and accounting officer, effective immediately upon Mr. Blake's resignation. Mr. Blackburn previously served as the Company's Acting Chief Financial Officer as a consultant from October 2008 to January 2016, as the Company's principal accounting officer from May 2015 to October 2015 and as the Company's principal financial officer from May 2015 to January 2016.
aTyr Pharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. The Company is leveraging intelligence to translate tRNA synthetase biology into new therapies for fibrosis and inflammation. Its lead therapeutic candidate is efzofitimod, a biologic immunomodulator in clinical development for the treatment of interstitial lung disease (ILD), a group of immune-mediated disorders that can cause inflammation and fibrosis, or scarring, of the lungs. Efzofitimod is a tRNA synthetase derived therapy that selectively modulates activated myeloid cells through neuropilin-2 (NRP2) to resolve aberrant inflammation without immune suppression and prevent the progression of fibrosis. ATYR0101 is a fusion protein derived from a domain of aspartyl-tRNA synthetase (DARS). ATYR0101 binds directly to latent-transforming growth factor beta-binding protein 1 (LTBP1), which regulates transforming growth factor beta (TGFb). Its ATYR0750 is a fusion protein derived from a domain of alanyl-tRNA synthetase (AARS).