SAN DIEGO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- aTyr Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIFE), a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of Physiocrine-based therapeutics to address severe, rare diseases, today announced the appointment of Mr. Jeffrey S. Hatfield, as an independent board director, to aTyr Pharma's board of directors, effective immediately. Mr. Hatfield brings relevant industry operations experience and expertise to aTyr at an important and exciting time for aTyr's growth.

Jeffrey S. Hatfield served as President, Chief Executive Officer of Vitae Pharmaceuticals from March 2004 through October 2016 when Vitae was acquired by Allergan, plc. During his tenure at Vitae, Mr. Hatfield focused the company on high value therapeutic areas with significant global unmet medical need, including autoimmune disorders, diabetes, immuno-oncology and more.

"aTyr has potentially elucidated new immunological pathways as innovative therapeutic intervention points for patients," said Mr. Hatfield. "There is tremendous opportunity for improving patients' lives by leveraging multiple therapeutic modalities based on their Physiocrine biology."

"We are humbled to attract such an accomplished biotech executive to our board to help support our mission to develop new immunological pathways for the betterment of patients," said John Mendlein, PhD, CEO. "Jeff is a valuable addition to our board as we continue to grow and tap into his strategic operational expertise from running Vitae, which also had novel programs in immunology."

About Jeffrey S. Hatfield

Jeffrey S. Hatfield most recently served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Vitae Pharmaceuticals from 2004 to 2016. As CEO, Mr. Hatfield successfully transitioned Vitae from a novel platform technology start-up to a thriving product-focused company with a robust pipeline of multiple first-in-class clinical stage and pre-clinical stage assets generated from the company's internal discovery engine.  Mr. Hatfield took the company public in 2014, and in October 2016, Vitae Pharmaceuticals was acquired by Allergan plc for approximately $639 million in cash. Prior to joining Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Hatfield worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb in a variety of executive positions, including: Senior Vice President of BMS's Immunology and Virology Divisions, where he was responsible for all aspects of the $1 billion business; President and General Manager, Canada; and, Vice President, U.S. Managed Health Care. While at BMS, Mr. Hatfield was directly associated with several product successes, including Pravachol^®, Plavix^®, Avapro^®, Abilify^®, Reyataz^®and Atripla^®. Mr. Hatfield holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Purdue University. He previously served as a Board member of Ambit Biosciences before its acquisition by Daiichi-Sankyo and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), serving on the Executive Committee of the Emerging Company Section.  Mr. Hatfield currently serves as a Board member of InVivo Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, and as a member of the Advisory Committees for: Purdue University's College of Pharmacy, where he is a Distinguished Alumni and is on faculty; Drexel University's LeBow College of Business; and the Chapman-KGI School of BioPharmacy.

About aTyr Pharma

aTyr Pharma is engaged in the discovery and clinical development of innovative medicines for patients suffering from severe, rare diseases using its knowledge of Physiocrine biology, a newly discovered set of physiological pathways. To date, the company has generated three innovative therapeutic candidate programs based on its knowledge of Physiocrine biology in three different therapeutic areas. aTyr has built an intellectual property estate, to protect its pipeline, comprising over 175 issued patents or allowed patent applications that are owned or exclusively licensed, including over 300 potential Physiocrine-based protein compositions. aTyr's key programs are currently focused on severe, rare diseases characterized by immune imbalance for which there are currently limited or no treatment options. For more information, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Litigation Reform Act.  Forward-looking statements are usually identified by the use of words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans," "projects," "seeks," "should," "will," and variations of such words or similar expressions. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by such safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements and are making this statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor provisions. These forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the potential of Resolaris™ or Stalaris™, the ability of the Company to undertake certain development activities (such as clinical trial enrollment and the conduct of clinical trials) and accomplish certain development goals, the timing of initiation of additional clinical trials and of reporting results from our clinical trials and reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control including, without limitation, risks associated with the discovery, development and regulation of our Physiocrine-based product candidates, as well as those set forth in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and in our other SEC filings. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE aTyr Pharma, Inc.