Syros Pharmaceuticals Appoints Kyle Kuvalanka as Chief Operating Officer

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Syros Pharmaceuticals, the industry pioneer in gene control, announced today that accomplished industry veteran Kyle Kuvalanka joined the Company as its first Chief Operating Officer. In this newly created role, Mr. Kuvalanka will hold broad management responsibility for finance, business development, new product planning, and other business operations, as well as the Company’s proprietary gene control mapping platform.

“Syros is poised for significant growth as we transition to a clinical-stage organization with a productive drug discovery and development platform and growing pipeline,” said Nancy Simonian, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Syros. “Kyle is the perfect match with Syros at this time. He brings with him a unique wealth of business leadership experience at early-stage and mature therapeutics companies and across many functional areas. Kyle and I worked closely together for a decade at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and I am thrilled to be reunited with him to build Syros to achieve its potential as the leader in therapies based on gene control, and to sustainably bring meaningful medicines to patients.”

A senior leader with more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical management experience, Mr. Kuvalanka served most recently as Chief Business Officer and Principal Financial and Accounting Officer of Blueprint Medicines, where he built the business organization, secured the company’s first strategic collaboration and led the execution of the company’s initial public offering. Previously, Mr. Kuvalanka worked for over a decade at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company where he served in a variety of business leadership roles in several functional areas, including most recently as vice president of business development and corporate strategy.

Added Mr. Kuvalanka: “I felt compelled to join Syros for its powerful discovery and development platform, expanding pipeline of novel gene control therapies, incredible team of industry veterans, renowned scientific founders, and strongly supportive board of directors and investor base. In just two and a half years, Syros demonstrated its unique ability to pinpoint genes that drive disease and generate novel therapies to control them. I believe that Syros is poised to create a wealth of opportunities that will revolutionize how disease is treated, produce novel and important therapies for patients and build value for investors and partners.”

About Syros Pharmaceuticals

Syros Pharmaceuticals is a therapeutics company harnessing breakthroughs in gene control to revolutionize the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Syros’ proprietary platform identifies the master switches for disease genes, opening a whole new approach to novel therapeutics and biomarkers. The Company’s founders are pioneers in gene control research and translation. Co-founded by Flagship Ventures and ARCH Venture Partners, Syros Pharmaceuticals is located in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, visit www.syros.com.