Date: 2016-09-21
Type of information: Nomination
Compound:
Company: Atyr Pharma (USA - CA)
Therapeutic area:
Type agreement: nomination
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Details: * On September 21, 2016, aTyr Pharma announced that David J. King, PhD, has joined the company as Senior Vice President, Research. Dr. King will lead aTyr's research and preclinical efforts to advance its Physiocrine biology and support the clinical development of meaningful medicines that target immune and tissue homeostatic pathways for patients with various severe and rare diseases. Dr. King's industry experience is highlighted by his tenures at Medarex, (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2009) and Celltech Therapeutics (acquired by UCB in 2004). At Medarex, he led programs to identify therapeutic antibodies and played a key role in programs targeting novel biologics (including PD-1), and at Celltech, he directed the protein biochemistry and antibody engineering activities that led to the discovery and development of Cimzia. After Medarex, Dr. King served as Chief Scientific Officer at AnaptysBio, where he led research that developed a novel technology for generating antibody therapeutics, which was successfully used to generate innovative clinical candidates for a number of pharmaceutical partnerships and for internal development. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Research at Tunitas Therapeutics, where he led the company's research and preclinical activities. Dr. King received his B.S. from the University of Warwick and his Ph.D. from the University of Surrey, both in the United Kingdom, and was a Glaxo Group Research postdoctoral fellow.
In connection with Dr. King's appointment, the Company granted Dr. King an option to purchase 145,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock with an exercise price of $3.29 per share, the closing price per share of the Company's common stock as reported by NASDAQ on September 21, 2016, the effective date of the grant and the start date of Dr. King's employment. The option is a non-qualified stock option and vests over a period of four years, with 25% vesting on the one year anniversary of the grant date and the remaining 75% vesting on a monthly basis over three years, subject to Dr. King's continuous employment through each vesting date. This award was granted as an inducement material to Dr. King's entering into employment with the Company in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
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