Syros Pharmaceuticals Appoints Industry Leader Sanj K. Patel to its Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Syros Pharmaceuticals today announced that Sanj K. Patel, Chief
Executive Officer and Chairman of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, has been
appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Patel brings more
than 25 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, with a proven
track record of developing and commercializing innovative therapies and
building successful business enterprises.
“With his extensive drug development, commercialization and leadership
experience, Sanj will be a tremendous asset to Syros as we work toward
building a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company based on our
pioneering approach to advance a new wave of genomic medicines,” said
Nancy Simonian, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Syros. “Sanj brings
deep expertise and insight into translating innovative science into
important new therapies and high-value biotech companies. We’re very
pleased to have him on our board.”
Before founding Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals in 2015, Mr. Patel was President
and Chief Executive Officer of Synageva BioPharma Corp. as well as a
director of the company. He created Synageva in 2008 to focus on rare
diseases and oversaw the company’s lead program, Kanuma®, for LAL
deficiency. Mr. Patel took Synageva public in November 2011, raising
more than $1 billion in capital in less than five years, and he led the
$9.5 billion (including cash) acquisition of Synageva by Alexion
Pharmaceuticals in June 2015. Prior to Synageva, Mr. Patel served in a
variety of senior leadership roles at Genzyme Corp. from 1999-2008,
including head of U.S. Sales, Marketing and Commercial Operations for
Genzyme Therapeutics’ Lysosomal Storage Disorder franchise, Vice
President of Clinical Research and Head of the Global Clinical Research
Operations Council. Earlier in his career, Mr. Patel held roles in
clinical research and commercial operations at Burroughs Wellcome,
Hoechst Marrion Roussel and Fujisawa Pharmaceuticals. He is currently a
member of the board of directors of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, a publicly
traded company. Mr. Patel earned his BSc with Honors in Biotechnology
from the University of the South Bank, London. He completed his
management and business studies at Ealing College in London and his
Pharmacology research program at the Wellcome Foundation.
“Syros’ gene control platform enables the systematic analysis of the
non-coding region of the genome, which has been largely unexploited for
drug discovery and development, and has the potential to uncover a wide
array of novel drug targets across a range of therapeutic areas and
diseases,” said Mr. Patel. “I look forward to working with the
leadership team and the board to realize the Company’s mission of
developing medicines that provide a profound and durable benefit for
currently underserved patients.”
About Syros Pharmaceuticals
Syros Pharmaceuticals is
pioneering the understanding of the non-coding region of the genome to
advance a new wave of medicines that control expression of
disease-driving genes. Syros has built a proprietary platform that is
designed to systematically and efficiently analyze this unexploited
region of DNA in human disease tissue to identify and drug novel targets
linked to genomically defined patient populations. Because gene
expression is fundamental to the function of all cells, the Company’s
gene control platform has broad potential to achieve profound and
durable benefit across a range of diseases. Syros is focused on cancer
and immune-mediated diseases and is advancing a growing pipeline,
including its lead drug candidates SY-1425, a selective RARα agonist for
genomically defined subsets of patients identified by its platform, for
a range of cancers including acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic
syndrome, and SY-1365, a selective CDK7 inhibitor for a range of blood
cancers and solid tumors. Led by a team with deep experience in drug
discovery, development and commercialization, Syros is located in
Cambridge, Mass.