aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ: LIFE) reported Q1 EPS of $0.25, $0.43 better than the analyst estimate of ($0.18). Revenue for the quarter came in at $8.1 million versus the consensus estimate of $4.4 million.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, we are abiding by government directives to keep our patients, investigators, site personnel and employees safe. While some of our investigational sites for our ongoing trial of ATYR1923 in pulmonary sarcoidosis have remained active, our timeline has been impacted by the pandemic and we expect a delay in the completion of enrollment. We are encouraged by our recent interactions with our investigators as they implement procedures to allow them to safely re-engage during the second quarter and complete our Phase 1b/2a trial study,” said Dr. Sanjay S. Shukla, M.D., M.S., President and Chief Executive Officer of aTyr. “During the first quarter, we entered into a licensing agreement with Kyorin for ATYR1923 that generated an $8.0 million upfront payment and we also raised $20.7 million through a follow-on offering. These transactions strengthened our balance sheet, ending the first quarter of 2020 with approximately $50 million in cash.”

“Additionally, we have looked to our own science to see how we may be able to contribute to the immediate need for effective treatments for COVID-19. We recently announced the FDA’s acceptance of an investigational new drug (IND) application for a placebo-controlled Phase 2 study of ATYR1923 in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory complications. The study will evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of ATYR1923 as compared to placebo. At this time, we are actively working to initiate investigational sites for this study.”

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