Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Nature of Business

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Nature of Business
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Nature of Business  
Nature of Business

1. Nature of Business

 

Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the "Company"), a Delaware corporation formed in November 2011, is a biopharmaceutical company pioneering an understanding of the non-coding region of the genome to advance a new wave of medicines that control the expression of genes.

 

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 and discovery activities. 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.

 

In February 2018, the Company issued and sold an aggregate of 4,188,481 shares of its common stock in a public offering at a price of $9.55 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $40.0 million before deducting underwriting commissions and fees of approximately $3.0 million. The underwriters exercised their option to purchase an additional 628,272 shares at a price per share of $9.55, resulting in additional gross proceeds of $6.0 million before deducting underwriting commissions and fees of approximately $0.4 million. In February 2018, the Company also completed a private placement of 144,505 shares of common stock to Incyte Corporation (“Incyte”), for an aggregate purchase price of $1.4 million. In January 2018, the Company issued and sold 793,021 shares of its common stock to Incyte for aggregate proceeds of $10.0 million in connection with entry into a target discovery collaboration with Incyte (refer to Note 3).

 

The Company has incurred significant annual 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. The Company’s net losses were $54.0 million, $47.7 million and $29.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and $14.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $169.7 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 the sale of equity securities. The Company has devoted substantially all of its financial resources and efforts to research and development and general and administrative expense 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. The Company believes that its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $121.7 million as of March 31, 2018, will be sufficient to allow the Company to fund its current operating plan for a period of at least 12 months past the issuance date of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.