What Happened?
Cambridge, MA-based Syros-Pharmaceuticals Appointed Nancy Simonian as Chief Executive Officer
About the Company
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.
About the Person
Dr. Nancy A. Simonian, M.D., has been the Chief Executive Officer at Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc. since April 2013. Dr. Simonian served as the Chief Medical Officer of Clinical, Medical & Regulatory Affairs at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She served as the Chief Medical Officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. since 2006. While at Millennium, Dr. Simonian has built a strong clinical development organization which effectively executes on a diverse pipeline of product candidates in Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc.`s oncology, inflammatory disease and cardiovascular disease focus areas. She served as Senior Vice President, Clinical, Regulatory and Medical Affairs of Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. from March 14, 2005 to 2006. She was responsible for guiding the clinical development process for the approval of VELCADE. In her expanded role, Dr. Simonian leads an integrated medical organization which consolidates all medical functions, including clinical development, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance and global medical affairs. She joined Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 2001. She co-leads Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. `s pipeline portfolio review committee and direct a streamlined clinical drug development process through post-approval life- cycle. Dr. Simonian served at Biogen, Inc. from 1995 to 2001, and also held the postions of Vice President of Medical Research/clinical research. At Biogen, she was responsible for the oversight of Avonex Tysabri, as well as multiple gene therapy clinical development programs. She successfully filed sNDAS for Avonex and led the in-licensing of Tysabri from Elan Pharmaceuticals. She has been a Director of Seattle Genetics, Inc. since March 2012 and Syros Pharmaceuticals since April 2013. Dr. Simonian served as a Director of Arqule Inc. from May 12, 2006 to March 31, 2011. Dr. Simonian is Assistant Clinical Professor, Neurology, at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Simonian holds a BA in Biology from Princeton University and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. She completed her internship in Medicine and residency in Neurology at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital.
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