Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Nature of Business

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Nature of Business
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Nature of Business

1. Nature of Business

Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company”), a Delaware corporation formed in November 2011, is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing new standards of care for the frontline treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies.

The Company is subject to a number of risks similar to those of other early stage companies, including dependence on key individuals; risks inherent in the development and commercialization of medicines to treat human disease; competition from other companies, many of which are larger and better capitalized; risks relating to obtaining and maintaining necessary intellectual property protection; and the need to obtain adequate additional financing to fund the development of its product candidates. If the Company is unable to raise capital when needed or on favorable terms, it would be forced to delay, reduce, eliminate or out-license certain of its research and development programs or future commercialization rights to its product candidates.

The Company has incurred significant net operating losses in every year since its inception. It expects to continue to incur significant and increasing net operating losses for at least the next several years. As of March 31, 2024, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $108.3 million and an accumulated deficit of $726.5 million. The Company has not generated any revenues from product sales, has not completed the development of any product candidate and may never have a product candidate approved for commercialization. The Company has financed its operations to date primarily through a credit facility, the sale of equity securities and through license and collaboration agreements. The Company has devoted substantially all of its financial resources and efforts to research and development and general and administrative activities to support such research and development. The Company’s net losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. Net losses and negative cash flows have had, and will continue to have, an adverse effect on the Company’s stockholders’ equity and working capital.

On April 6, 2023, the Company filed a universal shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the “2023 Registration Statement”), with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) to register for sale from time to time up to $250.0 million of common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, warrants and/or units in one or more registered offerings. The 2023 Registration Statement was declared effective on April 28, 2023. Further, in April 2023, the Company entered into an at-the-market sales agreement (the “2023 Sales Agreement”) with Cowen and Company, LLC (“Cowen”) pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell shares of its common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $50.0 million through Cowen pursuant to the 2023 Registration Statement.

On October 2, 2023, the Company announced a strategic realignment to prioritize key development and pre-launch activities to advance tamibarotene for the treatment of newly diagnosed higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome and newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia, and to stop further investment in the clinical development of SY-2101 (oral arsenic trioxide) for the treatment of newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia, as well as in the Company’s preclinical and discovery-stage programs. In connection with these decisions, the Company instituted certain expense reduction measures (the “Restructuring”), including a reduction of approximately 35% of the Company’s employee base excluding members of the Company’s drug discovery organization whose employment ended concurrently with the termination, effective October 16, 2023, of its collaboration with Pfizer, Inc. (“Pfizer”) related to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. The Restructuring was completed by February 2024.

 

Based on its current operating plan, the Company’s management believes that as of March 31, 2024, the Company will meet its liquidity requirements for a period of at least 12 months from the issuance date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.