Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Nature of Business

v3.10.0.1
Nature of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
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 pioneering an understanding of the non-coding regulatory 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.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company issued and sold an aggregate of 1,373,677 shares of its common stock to the public pursuant to its at-the-market sales facility, resulting in aggregate proceeds of $16.6 million. 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 $2.9 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 aggregate proceeds of $1.4 million. In January 2018, the Company completed a private placement of 793,021 shares of common stock to Incyte for aggregate proceeds of $10.0 million in connection with entry into a target discovery collaboration with Incyte (see 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 $62.3 million, $54.0 million and $47.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. As of December 31, 2018, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $217.5 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 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 $99.7 million as of December 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 consolidated financial statements.