Sanjay Shukla, MD, the president and CEO of aTyr Pharma, explains how his company’s new ATYR1923 treatment for pulmonary sarcoidosis also shows promise in treating Covid-19.
Pulmonary sarcoidosis is an interstitial lung disease characterized by the development and growth of tiny lumps of cells called granulomas, which grow and clump together in the lungs, affecting the organ’s structure and function.
ATYR1923 is a potential disease-modifying therapy for patients with severe inflammatory lung diseases with high unmet medical need. ATYR1923 works by selectively modulating Neuropilin-2 (NRP2) to downregulate the innate and adaptive immune responses in uncontrolled inflammatory disease states to resolve inflammation and prevent subsequent fibrosis. ATYR1923 is conducting a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial in pulmonary sarcoidosis, a major form of interstitial lung disease (ILD), a group of immune-mediated disorders that cause progressive fibrosis of the lung, and a Phase 2 trial in patients with Covid-19 related respiratory complications.
Many Covid-19 patients with severe disease experience serious, sometimes fatal, respiratory complications caused by an excessive inflammatory response in the lung, primarily driven by T-cells. The inflammatory lung injury related to Covid-19 may be similar to that of ILDs. ATYR1923’s mechanism of action has shown substantial overlap with this disease pathology and presents a compelling opportunity to potentially treat this subset of Covid-19 patients for which there are limited available treatment options.
Learn more about pulmonary sarcoidosis and other rare lung diseases.