Source
Biocompatible purity
We bypass animal-origin materials entirely. Our PDRN comes from plant and microbial sources, extracted, purified and cut to length by our own process.
Benign Bio-Synthesis
Medicine on the body's terms.
Developing animal-free medicines from PDRN, the building blocks the body already uses, to help people live healthier, more comfortable lives.
We are Synthena.
Advanced medicine that fits into a life rather than interrupting it.
We develop medicines from one animal-free substance, PDRN, made and studied in Vietnam, to take on the conditions that place a daily strain on people, their families and the clinicians who care for them.
Guided by the experiences of the people who live with these conditions, we are determined to make medicines the body naturally accepts, so that a medicine asks as little of a person as possible.
“My grandparents opened their door to anyone who knocked, cared for them, and never asked what they would get back. That is the only care I have ever trusted. I founded Synthena to make medicine the same way: with the care you would want for your own family, gentle by design, and given without asking anything back.”
Marshon Nguyen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Medicine and the body need not be adversaries.
How it works
Everything we make is built to be naturally accepted by the body.
Four pillars carry every candidate from source to formulation, so that what reaches a person is as pure and as gentle as we can make it.
Refine
Molecular precision
We refine the substance to a consistent, pharmaceutical-grade standard, built for purity and for everyday use.
Formulate
Targeted integration
We formulate each medicine for the tissue it is meant to reach, from the deep layers of the skin to the tissues inside the body.
Design
Gentle by design
We design every candidate for tolerability from the start, not as an afterthought.
Our platform
Every candidate we develop begins on one platform, made pure from the start.
Everything we make starts from one substance, PDRN. Here is what it is, how we make it, what it does, and why it is designed to be gentle.
PDRN, the building blocks that cells already use
PDRN, polydeoxyribonucleotide, is a mixture of short DNA fragments: chains of the same four nucleotides that every cell in the body already uses to build and repair itself.
Our platform is PDRN made to pharmaceutical grade, animal-free and consistent from one batch to the next, and cut short by design: fragments of 20 to 80 base pairs, about 13 to 50 kilodaltons. Every candidate we develop is built on it.
Made without animal-origin materials
Our DNA comes from plant and microbial sources, never from animals. We extract it in a clean, controlled process, cut it to the fragment lengths PDRN needs, and refine it to a consistent, pharmaceutical-grade standard.
Made this way, the substance is predictable in length and in purity, batch after batch.
Support for the body's own repair
In the body, PDRN is understood to help tissue repair in two ways: by supplying cells under stress with ready-made nucleotides, and by signalling through the adenosine A2A receptor, which is understood to calm inflammation and encourage small new blood vessels to form. The three steps below follow that path.
That is why PDRN is studied for the repair of skin and wounds, the tissues of the mouth, joints, and tissue under immune strain: the areas we work in.
Designed to be recognised, not resisted
PDRN is made of what the body already has, so it is designed to be recognised rather than resisted. An animal-free substance that carries no animal-origin material with it is designed to give the body as little as possible to react to.
Every candidate is designed from the start to be accepted by the body rather than to provoke its defences. That is what we mean by medicine on the body's terms.
Supply
PDRN gives cells under stress ready-made nucleotides, so they can rebuild and divide without starting from scratch.
Signal
It signals through a receptor, adenosine A2A, that is understood to calm inflammation and encourage small new blood vessels to form.
Repair
The result is studied in the repair of skin and wounds, the tissues of the mouth, the joints and tissue under immune strain.
Latest
Synthena opens discussions on its next candidate: a PDRN coating for implanted devices, to help the tissue around an implant heal.
Synthena prepares patent filings for its substance and the way it is made.
The biological activity of the substance is evaluated: antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, and skin tolerance.
Synthena signs a research contract with a university research partner in Vietnam covering the chemistry, structure, carrier and activity of the substance.
The substance is characterised: fragment length, structure and purity, batch against batch.
The first animal-free PDRN is extracted and purified from plant and microbial sources at laboratory scale.
Dermatology is chosen as the first programme.
Synthena is founded in Vietnam around one substance, PDRN.
Our approach
Developing medicines for the conditions people live with every day.
Our research focuses on developing animal-free medicines for people living with conditions of the skin, the mouth, the joints and the immune system, across six areas of focus. We are starting with dermatology, our most advanced programme.
Explore the six areas
Areas of focus
Discover our areas of focus.
We are developing medicines across six areas, beginning with dermatology. Each one starts with the people who live with the condition.
Most advanced
Dermatology
Medicines for skin repair, barrier health and ageing skin.
Research
Regeneration
Supporting the body's own repair of wounds, burns and damaged tissue, and the regrowth of hair.
Research
Stomatology
Care for the gums and the tissues of the mouth.
Research
Immunology
Inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
Research
Rheumatology
Joint and connective tissue conditions, beginning with the knee.
Research
Pharmacology
How PDRN acts in the body and how well it is tolerated: antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, and skin tolerance.
Our programmes
Science and delivery
Bringing gentle science to the people who need it.
Discover how Synthena turns one substance, PDRN, into medicines held to pharmaceutical standards.
We work with a university research partner in Vietnam on the chemistry and the biology of our substance, and with clinicians and partners to bring our medicines to the people who need them.
Our job
Our job is to make medicine the body can live with.
We are starting with dermatology, and we know our most important work is still ahead of us.
Shape the future of medicine with us.
We welcome partners, clinicians, researchers and investors who share our purpose. If you live with one of the conditions we work on, you are welcome to write to us too, and to talk to your doctor about your care.