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 to pharmaceutical grade, to take on the conditions that place a daily strain on people, their families and the clinicians who care for them. Synthena Pharmaceuticals Limited is based in Hong Kong.
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, consistent from one batch to the next, and cut short by design: fragments of 20 to 80 base pairs, about 13 to 50 kilodaltons. Everything 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 in the repair of the skin, the joints, the lining of the gut, the nerves and the blood vessels: 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.
Each one is designed from the start to be accepted by the body rather than to provoke its defences. That is what we mean by a medicine the body accepts.
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 the skin, the joints, the lining of the gut, the nerves and the blood vessels.
Our approach
Developing medicines for the conditions people live with every day.
Our research focuses on developing medicines for people living with conditions of the heart and blood vessels, the joints, the gut, the nerves and the skin, across five areas of focus. Dermatology is our most advanced programme.
Explore the five areas
Areas of focus
Discover our areas of focus.
We are developing medicines across five areas, with dermatology as our most advanced programme. Each one starts with the people who live with the condition.
Research
Cardiovascular system
PDRN is studied for the way it may help small blood vessels grow and tissue recover where the supply of blood has been poor.
Research
Musculoskeletal system
In the joints, tendons and bone, PDRN is studied for the way it may support the body's own repair of worn or injured tissue.
Research
Digestive system
In the lining of the gut, PDRN is studied for the way it may help inflamed tissue settle and repair itself.
Research
Nervous system
In the nervous system, PDRN is studied for the way it may help nerve cells under stress keep working and recover.
Most advanced
Dermatology
PDRN is studied for the way it may help the skin repair itself: burns, wounds that are slow to close, ageing skin and the regrowth of hair.
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 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.