Syros Announces Board of Directors Appointment

Syros Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Mark Alles to the Company’s Board of Directors. Alles is a recognized biopharmaceutical executive with a proven record of building successful global oncology organizations and commercializing innovative therapies over his 30-year career.

"Mark is an outstanding leader who drove the growth of Celgene into an oncology powerhouse that delivered important therapies for patients across the world," said Nancy Simonian, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Syros. "His deep strategic, operational and commercial experience will be invaluable to Syros as we continue to advance toward our vision of being a fully integrated company with medicines that make a profound difference for patients."

Alles is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Celgene Corporation, now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS). In his 16-year tenure at Celgene, Alles led the expansion of the company from a US-based organization with less than 500 employees into a global enterprise serving patients in more than 50 countries with 8,800 employees. He held a series of commercial and leadership roles of escalating responsibility, consistently delivering industry-leading financial performance. He led teams that completed several multibillion-dollar company or asset acquisitions, built a diverse suite of globally marketed medicines and a pipeline of high-potential therapeutics for cancer and serious inflammatory diseases, all of which ultimately led to the $74 billion acquisition of Celgene by BMS.

Before joining Celgene, Alles was Vice President of the U.S. Oncology business unit at Aventis Pharmaceuticals and served in other senior commercial management roles at Aventis (Rhône-Poulenc Rorer). He began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Bayer and worked at Centocor before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Alles earned his B.S. degree from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and served as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. Alles is a former Board member of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), Gilda’s Club NYC (non-profit helping families of people with cancer), and a former member of the Trustees for the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ).

"There is tremendous promise in Syros’ pipeline programs and its pioneering approach for discovering and developing oral medicines to control the expression of genes," said Alles. "I look forward to working with the board and the management team to build a great and enduring company that fulfills our shared mission of delivering medical innovation for patients."

Syros also announced that Vicki L. Sato, Ph.D., has stepped down from the Company’s board of directors.

"On behalf of our board of directors and management team, I want to thank Vicki for her years of service and her many contributions to Syros," Dr. Simonian said. "We are grateful for her thoughtful guidance and support over the years."

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