Syngene, Johns Hopkins University team on early drug discovery

Syngene International, a contract research, development and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) headquartered in Bengaluru, India, announced a strategic collaboration with Johns Hopkins University to advance early-stage drug discovery programs and platform technologies from the university’s research labs.

According to the announcement, the collaboration will be delivered through Syngene SynVent, the company’s integrated discovery and development platform spanning discovery biology, medicinal and synthetic chemistry, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and early development. 

Syngene said its Connector model will be used to link early-stage assets and technology platforms with strategic investors and downstream partners to sponsor research and secure licensing options for resulting intellectual property.

“We are delighted to be working with a renowned institution like Johns Hopkins,” Kenneth Barr, senior vice president and head of strategic collaborations at Syngene International, said in a statement. “We are uniquely positioned to translate pioneering research into credible therapeutic candidates, and our goal is to significantly compress the time required for high-potential programs to become clinically relevant, creating a faster and more efficient pipeline of new medicines.” 

“This novel collaboration model has the potential to link discoveries from Johns Hopkins laboratories with the drug discovery capabilities of Syngene, pharmaceutical and biotech partners, and investors … that could ultimately lead to new options for patients,” added Paul Nkansah, senior director of corporate partnerships at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures.

The announcement follows other recent news from Syngene including an extension of its strategic collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb through 2035 to broaden integrated discovery, development, and manufacturing services across the drug lifecycle. The company also announced plans in October 2025 to add a GMP bioconjugation suite at its commercial biologics facility in Bengaluru to support antibody-drug conjugate manufacturing.