UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): September 11, 2020

ATYR PHARMA, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (858) 731-8389

Not Applicable

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligations of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Emerging growth company     ☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.      ☒

Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

On September 11, 2020, aTyr Pharma, Inc. (the “Company”), entered into a common stock purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Aspire Capital Fund, LLC, an Illinois limited liability company (“Aspire Capital”), which provides that, upon the terms and subject to the conditions and limitations set forth therein, Aspire Capital is committed to purchase up to an aggregate of $20.0 million of shares of the Company’s common stock at the Company’s request from time to time during the 30 month term of the Purchase Agreement. Concurrently with entering into the Purchase Agreement, the Company also entered into a registration rights agreement with Aspire Capital (the “Registration Rights Agreement”), in which the Company agreed to file one or more registration statements, as permissible and necessary to register under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), registering the sale of the shares of the Company’s common stock that have been and may be issued to Aspire Capital under the Purchase Agreement.

Under the Purchase agreement, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has declared effective the registration statement referred to above, on any trading day selected by the Company, the Company has the right, in its sole discretion, to present Aspire Capital with a purchase notice (each, a “Purchase Notice”) directing Aspire Capital (as principal) to purchase up to 100,000 shares of the Company’s common stock (not to exceed $1,000,000 worth of shares) per business day, up to $20.0 million of the Company’s common stock in the aggregate at a per share price (the “Purchase Price”) equal to the lesser of:

In addition, on any date on which the Company submits a Purchase Notice to Aspire Capital in an amount equal to 100,000 shares, the Company also has the right, in its sole discretion, to present Aspire Capital with a volume-weighted average price purchase notice (each, a “VWAP Purchase Notice”) directing Aspire Capital to purchase an amount of stock equal to up to 30% of the aggregate shares of the Company’s common stock traded on its principal market on the next trading day (the “VWAP Purchase Date”), subject to a maximum number of shares the Company may determine. The purchase price per share pursuant to such VWAP Purchase Notice is generally 97% of the volume-weighted average price for the Company’s common stock traded on its principal market on the VWAP Purchase Date.

The Purchase Agreement provides that the Company and Aspire Capital shall not effect any sales under the Purchase Agreement on any purchase date where the closing sale price of the Company’s common stock is less than $0.25. In addition, the Company may not sell more than an aggregate of 1,987,484 shares of its common stock under the Purchase Agreement unless it obtains stockholder approval of the sale of additional shares or if after giving effect to a sale of additional shares, the average price paid for all shares then-issued under the Purchase Agreement would be equal to or greater than $3.83. There are no trading volume requirements or restrictions under the Purchase Agreement, and the Company will control the timing and amount of sales of the Company’s common stock to Aspire Capital. Aspire Capital has no right to require any sales by the Company, but is obligated to make purchases from the Company as directed by the Company in accordance with the Purchase Agreement. There are no limitations on use of proceeds, financial or business covenants, restrictions on future financing transactions, rights of first refusal, participation rights, penalties or liquidated damages in the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement may be terminated by the Company at any time, at its discretion, without any cost to the Company. Aspire Capital has agreed that neither it nor any of its agents, representatives and affiliates shall engage in any direct or indirect short-selling or hedging of the Company’s common stock during any time prior to the termination of the Purchase Agreement. Any proceeds the Company receives under the Purchase Agreement are expected to be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

The foregoing is a summary description of certain terms of the Purchase Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement and, by its nature, is incomplete. Copies of the Purchase Agreement and Registration Rights Agreement are filed herewith as Exhibits 99.1 and 4.1, respectively, to this Current Report on Form 8-K and are incorporated herein by reference. All readers are encouraged to read the entire text of the Purchase Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement.

The issuance of the shares of common stock that may be issued from time to time to Aspire Capital under the Purchase Agreement is exempt from registration under the Securities Act, pursuant to the exemption for transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

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On September 14, 2020, the Company issued a press release announcing that it has entered into the Purchase Agreement with Aspire Capital. A copy of the press release is attached as Exhibit 99.2 to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

This Current Report on Form 8-K contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements related to the potential future sale of shares of the Company’s common stock, the price for such sales under the Purchase Agreement, and the Company’s expected use of proceeds from such sales. The words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. While the Company believes its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, these plans, intentions or expectations may not be achieved. The Company’s actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including due to the Company’s inability to satisfy the conditions to sell shares under the Purchase Agreement. For information about the factors that could cause such differences, please refer to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, including the information discussed under the captions “Item 1 Business,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” as well as the Company’s various other filings with the SEC. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Item 3.02Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities.

The information contained above in Item 1.01 is hereby incorporated by reference into this Item 3.02 in its entirety.

Item 9.01Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d)  Exhibits

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 SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

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