Our History
Better quality of life for people with inflammatory bowel diseases.
Imagine a life with chronic abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea, weight loss, and many other symptoms. This is the daily reality for thousands of people in Denmark and millions worldwide who live with inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
Fortunately, at Syntese, we are able to contribute to an improved quality of life for this particular patient group.
The story of how we got here goes back to the early 1980s. At that time, a team of employees from Ferring in the Synthesis (Danish: Syntese) department were among the pioneers to develop a new purification process of 5-aminosalicylic acid to obtain the API mesalazine.
The way to a better treatment
In 1986, thanks to this purification process, Ferring launched Pentasa® for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.
At the beginning, we produced mesalazine exclusively by purifying 5-aminosalicylic acid, but our ambition was to create the molecule at Syntese. By employing water-based coupling chemistry, our development and production teams collaborated to develop a synthesis of the API intermediate. In 2001, this effort finally led to the implementation of our own approved synthesis process.
Today, we supply pharmaceutical companies with API mesalazine for use in drug product formulations. This results in a variety of preparations for patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.
Part of a Pharmaceutical Community
Syntese is a subsidiary of Ferring. This means that our employees today have the benefit of being part of something larger while also having the sense of working in the close-knit community of a smaller company.
Since the 1980s, the demand for mesalazine has steadily increased, and we are now among the world’s largest producers. We have been in ongoing development for almost 40 years and are committed to continually improving our product.
As our employee, you will become part of a team that every day strives to produce a quality product contributing to improving the quality of life for people living with inflammatory bowel diseases.
