Syrrx

About Syrrx

Syrrx, Inc. operated as a drug discovery company with a strategic focus on creating novel small molecule drugs for metabolic diseases, cancer, and inflammation. Founded in 1999 by Peter G. Schultz, Raymond Stevens, and Nathaniel David, the San Diego-based company was built upon a foundation of high-throughput structural biology. The founders brought together significant expertise in chemistry and biology; Schultz is a renowned chemist and serial entrepreneur in biotechnology, while Stevens is a pioneer in structure-based drug discovery, and David founded the company during his doctoral work at UC Berkeley.

The company's core business revolved around its advanced capabilities in high-throughput X-ray crystallography to determine the three-dimensional structures of validated drug targets. This structure-based approach allowed Syrrx to design and develop drug candidates with high potency and selectivity. Its primary clients were large pharmaceutical companies seeking to enhance their drug discovery pipelines. Revenue was generated through strategic partnerships, milestone payments, and profit-sharing agreements from the commercialization of developed drugs. One notable partnership was with PPD, Inc., which included a $25 million equity investment and co-development of a DPP IV inhibitor program for Type II diabetes. By 2003, the company had solved over 140 unique protein structures, a key achievement that drove its therapeutic programs.

Syrrx's product development pipeline included promising therapeutic compounds, most notably a series of human dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) inhibitors for Type 2 diabetes. One of these inhibitors, Alogliptin (marketed as Nesina), later received FDA approval. The company also had preclinical programs targeting human histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes for oncology treatments. In February 2005, a significant milestone was reached when Takeda Pharmaceutical Company acquired Syrrx for approximately $270 million in cash. The acquisition provided Takeda with Syrrx's leading-edge crystallography technology and its drug pipeline, establishing Takeda's first major R&D presence in the United States, which now operates as Takeda California.