Syros To Axe Around 35% Of Staff To Focus On Tamibarotene, Appoints Conley Chee As CEO; Stock Down

(RTTNews) - Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS), a company focused on hematologic malignancies, said on Monday that it is cutting around 35 percent of its staff as part of its efforts to focus on late-stage development of tamibarotene in MDS and AML and ongoing pre-launch activities.

Following the news, SYRS was trading down by 7.59 percent at $3.65 per share on the Nasdaq.

In addition, the company said that its Chief Executive Officer, Nancy Simonian, will retire. Subsequently, Syros has appointed its Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Business Officer, Conley Chee, as CEO with effect from December 2.

This strategic realignment aims to prioritize key development and pre-launch activities to advance tamibarotene for the frontline treatment of higher-risk myelodysplastic syndrome or HR-MDS and acute myeloid leukemia or AML.

Syros is prioritizing the advancement of tamibarotene, its oral first-in-class selective retinoic acid receptor alpha or RARa agonist for the frontline treatment of HR-MDS and AML. Tamibarotene is currently being studied in SELECT-MDS-1, a pivotal Phase 3 trial evaluating the combination of tamibarotene and azacitidine in newly diagnosed HR-MDS patients with RARA gene overexpression and in SELECT-AML-1, a Phase 2 trial evaluating the combination of tamibarotene, venetoclax and azacitidine in newly diagnosed unfit AML patients with RARA overexpression.

Syros noted that it will stop further investment in the clinical development of SY-2101, its novel, oral form of arsenic trioxide for the treatment of newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia, as well as in its preclinical and discovery-stage programs.