Syros Pharmaceuticals, a US-based developer of control therapies to treat cancer, has raised $53m in a series B round featuring biopharmaceutical company Wuxi PharmaTech.
Venture capital firms Polaris Partners, Flagship Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments and Arch Venture Partners, investment firm Aisling Capital and hedge fund Redmile Group joined Wuxi PharmaTech, which invested through its Wuxi Pharmatech Corporate Venture Fund, in the round.
Syros Pharmaceuticals is focused on discovering and developing novel gene control therapies. The funds will be invested in advancing its programmes toward clinical trials, and to expand its gene control research into new areas.
Nancy Simonian, chief executive of Syros, said: “We are gratified to be able to expand our investor base and to strengthen our balance sheet as we embark on the next stage of the company’s development.
“We are well positioned to broadly leverage the transformative potential of our gene control platform in oncology and other therapeutic areas, to advance our first programme into the clinic in a molecularly defined patient population, and to build a deep pipeline of novel product candidates to benefit patients.”
Syros, which was co-founded by Arch Venture Parttners and Flagship Ventures’ Venture Labs unit, raised $30m in an April 2013 series A round backed by Wuxi PharmaTech, Arch and Flagship.