Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Nature of Business

v3.20.4
Nature of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
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 seeking to redefine the power of small molecules to 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.

On December 8, 2020, through a private placement, the Company issued 10,312,500 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and, in lieu of such shares of common stock, pre-funded warrants (the “Pre-Funded Warrants”) to purchase an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares of common stock, and, in each case, accompanying warrants (the “Warrants”) to purchase an aggregate of up to 2,828,125 additional shares of common stock (or Pre-Funded Warrants to purchase common stock in lieu thereof) at a price of $8.00 per share and accompanying Warrant (or $7.99 per Pre-Funded Warrant and accompanying Warrant). The private placement resulted in gross proceeds of $90.5 million, before $0.4 million of transaction costs.

 

On December 4, 2020, the Company entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Asset Purchase Agreement”) with Orsenix, LLC (“Orsenix”), pursuant to which the Company acquired all of Orsenix’s assets related to a novel oral form of arsenic trioxide, which the Company refers to as SY-2101 (the “Product”). Under the terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement, the Company was required to pay to Orsenix an upfront fee of $12.0 million, which was paid with cash on hand upon the closing of the transaction. In addition the Company is required to pay single-digit million milestone payments related to the development of the Product in indications other than APL; $6.0 million following the achievement of a regulatory milestone related to the development of the Product in APL; and up to $10.0 million upon the achievement of certain commercial milestones with respect to the Product.

 

In April 2019, the Company completed two concurrent underwritten public offerings of the Company’s equity securities, which together resulted in gross proceeds to the Company of $70.0 million, before underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses of approximately $5.0 million. In one of the public offerings, the Company sold 8,667,333 shares of its common stock and accompanying Class A warrants (the “2019 Warrants”) to purchase 1,951,844 shares of the Company’s common stock, at a combined price to the public of $7.50 per common share and accompanying 2019 Warrant. In the other public offering, the Company sold 666 shares of its Series A convertible preferred stock (the “Series A Stock”), and accompanying 2019 Warrants to purchase 166,500 shares of the Company’s common stock, at a combined public offering price of $7,500 per share and accompanying 2019 Warrant. Each 2019 Warrant is immediately exercisable at an exercise price of $8.625 per share, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances, and will expire on October 10, 2022. During November 2019, the Company issued and sold an aggregate of 180,787 shares of its common stock to the public pursuant to its at-the-market sales facility, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of $0.9 million.

 

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 $84.0 million, $75.4 million and $62.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $377.0 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 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 $174.0 million as of December 31, 2020 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.