Syros Pharma Acquires Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Drug; Street Firmly Bullish

Syros Pharmaceuticals announced the acquisition of a clinical-stage drug candidate for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (or APL) from Orsenix, LLC.

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Syros (SYRS) has acquired from Orsenix all of the assets related to SY-2101, formerly known as ORH-2014, a novel oral form of arsenic trioxide. Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, Syros has made an upfront cash payment of $12 million to Orsenix.

Additionally, Orsenix is eligible to receive a $6 million regulatory milestone related to the development of SY-2101 in APL and commercial milestones of up to $10 million. Orsenix could also receive single-digit million dollar milestone payments related to the development of SY-2101 in indications other than APL. (See SYRS stock analysis on TipRanks)

As per Syros, “SY-2101 represents a strategic opportunity to leverage Syros’ expertise and capabilities to advance its growing footprint in hematologic disorders, with a targeted clinical-stage drug candidate that has the potential to dramatically reduce the treatment burden of a standard-of-care regimen for newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).”

Currently, Syros scores a Strong Buy analyst consensus based on 4 unanimous Buys. The average price target stands at $16.50, reflecting upside potential of 112.6% from current levels. Shares have advanced 12.5% so far this year.

Last month, H.C. Wainwright analyst Andrew Fein upgraded Syros to Buy from Hold and raised the price target to $15 from $11. In a note to investors, Fein stated that with the SY-1365 discontinuation behind the company, it is clear that Syros has been able to learn from what that asset provided and “make a strong decision to pursue the better of the two CDK7 inhibitors with SY-5609.”

The analyst believes that the company has validated in the preclinical and clinical setting the feasibility of SY-5609 as an oral CDK7 inhibitor to potentially progress into further clinical development for solid tumor indications.