Bionova Scientific and Syenex Forge Strategic Alliance to Expand Access to High-Quality Plasmid DNA for Advanced Therapies

HOUSTON, Jan. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bionova Scientific LLC, an Asahi Kasei company and a bespoke contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced a strategic manufacturing alliance with Syenex, a genetic medicines platform company. This partnership will expand global access to critical DNA plasmids for next-generation gene delivery for advanced cell and gene therapies.

This collaboration strengthens Bionova’s leadership in plasmid DNA (pDNA) manufacturing, a critical raw material and ancillary plasmids for lentiviral vector production. It addresses one of the most persistent bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy development: pricing, quality, and supply-chain reliability of pDNA.

At the core of Bionova’s plasmid DNA platform is its proprietary, genetically stable cell line platform, engineered to eliminate insertion sequence elements (ISEs), cryptic prophages, and nonessential bacterial genomic regions. This IS-free host architecture significantly reduces plasmid rearrangements, deletions, and genetic instability, the key risks that can compromise downstream lentiviral vector yield, batch-to-batch consistency, and regulatory robustness.  

When combined with Bionova’s high-titer, high-purity plasmid DNA manufacturing processes, the platform delivers robust, reproducible plasmids suitable for use in all genetic medicine formats, including LVV production or for mRNA manufacturing as DNA templates.

Under the agreement, Bionova will serve as the preferred manufacturing partner for Syenex’s best-in-class delivery platforms. In parallel, Bionova expands its off-the-shelf and custom LVV plasmid system offerings, including gag/pol, rev, VSV-G, and transgene backbones, available from RUO through GMP.

This integrated approach enables rapid program initiation with off-the-shelf RUO and HQ plasmids, a seamless transition to GMP without plasmid system changes, reduced comparability risk across IND-enabling, clinical, and late-stage programs, and improved LVV manufacturability and functional titer performance.

The alliance also provides optionality for active and late-stage programs, allowing developers to optimize or re-engineer plasmid systems between clinical phases through structured comparability strategies leveraging either Bionova’s or Syenex’s development platforms.

“This collaboration advances Bionova’s mission to deliver highly specialized, science-driven plasmid DNA solutions to the cell and gene therapy industry,” said Darren Head, President of Bionova Scientific. “By integrating Syenex’s next-generation delivery technologies into our development and manufacturing platform, we are strengthening lentiviral vector plasmid systems used today. Also positioning our clients for a smoother  transition to next-gen approaches like in-vivo LVV, driving operational excellence, increasing flexibility across programs, and enabling faster progression to commercial manufacturing.”

“Partnering with Bionova Scientific allows us to bring the advantages of Syenex’s precise and scalable delivery platforms directly to therapeutic developers through a trusted, high-quality CDMO,” said Jay Rosanelli, CEO and Co-Founder of Syenex. “Together, we are delivering a differentiated and scalable solution that reduces development risk, improves manufacturability, and enables advanced therapy developers to Cure More.”

This strategic alliance represents a significant step forward in reliable, high-yield, quality-driven plasmid DNA manufacturing, a critical foundation for the next generation of cell and gene therapies.

About Bionova Scientific

Bionova Scientific, an Asahi Kasei company, a bespoke contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with deep expertise in complex biologics manufacturing and p-DNA for cell and gene therapy applications. With facilities in Fremont, California, and The Woodlands, Texas, Bionova delivers scientifically rigorous, high-quality, and highly personalized solutions to support biotherapeutic innovators from early development through commercial readiness.

About Syenex

Syenex is an open-science genetic medicines platform company that enables developers to program cells with precision and scale. Leveraging synthetic biology and a global network of contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), Syenex provides plug-and-play delivery platforms, spanning discovery through GMP manufacturing, so genetic medicine developers can rapidly advance ideas to clinical impact. Founded in 2022, Syenex has assembled a portfolio of cell-specific ex vivo and in vivo delivery platforms and over 50 partnerships with industry leaders across biopharma and academia. Learn more at www.syenex.com.

For more information, please contact:

Bionova Scientific, LLC
Cheryl Sturgis
Cheryls@bionovascientific.com 

Syenex, Inc.
Teresa Nikolich
bd@syenex.com 

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SOURCE Bionova Scientific