What is "syntex"

Laboratorios Syntex SA was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in 1944 by Russell Marker to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yams called cabeza de negro ( Dioscorea mexicana) and Barbasco ( Dioscorea composita). The demand for barbasco by Syntex initiated the Mexican barbasco trade.

Syntex chemists synthesized cortisone from diosgenin, a phytosteroid contained in Mexican yams. This synthesis was more economical than the previous Merck & Co. synthesis, which started with bile acids.

Syntex was integrated into the Roche group in 1994.