ABSTRACT
The Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance is a collaboration between the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Southern Research Institute that aims to support the discovery and development of therapeutic molecules that address an unmet medical need. The alliance builds on the expertise present at both institutions and has the dedicated commitment of their respective technology transfer and intellectual property offices to guide any commercial opportunities that may arise from the supported efforts. Although most projects involve high throughput screening, projects at any stage in the drug discovery and development pathway are eligible for support. Irrespective of the target and stage of any project, well-functioning interdisciplinary teams are crucial to a project’s progress. These teams consist of investigators with a wide variety of expertise from both institutions to contribute to the program’s success.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ADDA:
-
Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance
- CCC:
-
Comprehensive Cancer Center
- CCTS:
-
Center for Clinical and Translational Science
- FDA:
-
Food and Drug Administration
- HTS:
-
high throughput screening
- IP:
-
intellectual property
- SR:
-
Southern Research Institute
- UAB:
-
University of Alabama at Birmingham
REFERENCES
Kneller R. The importance of new companies for drug discovery: origins of a decade of new drugs. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2010;9(11):867–82.
Stevens AJ, Jensen JJ, Wyller K, Kilgore PC, Chatterjee S, Rohrbaugh ML. The role of public-sector research in the discovery of drugs and vaccines. N Engl J Med. 2011;364(6):535–41.
Booth B, Zemmel R. Prospects for productivity. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2004;3(5):451–6.
Cuatrecasas P. Drug discovery in jeopardy. J Clin Invest. 2006;116(11):2837–42.
Munos B. Lessons from 60 years of pharmaceutical innovation. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2009;8(12):959–68.
Ohlmeyer M, Zhou MM. Integration of small-molecule discovery in academic biomedical research. Mt Sinai J Med. 2010;77(4):350–7.
Patently naive. Nat Med. 2009;15(11):1229
Dalrymple M, Taylor D, Kettleborough C, Bryans J, Solari R. Academia-industry partnerships in drug discovery. Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2006;1(1):1–6.
Melese T. Building and managing corporate alliances in an academic medical center. Res Manage Rev. 2006;15(1):1–9.
[March 2 2011]; Available from: http://medicine.uab.edu/Peds/ADDA/resources/
[February 21 2011]; Available from: http://www.southernresearch.org/sites/all/files/images/Pipeline.jpg
Lajeunesse S. A precious jewel in sweet home Alabama. Chem Eng News. 2004:49–51
McDonald PR, Roy A, Taylor B, Price A, Sittampalam S, Weir S, et al. High throughput screening in academia drug discovery initiatives at the University of Kansas. Drug Discov World. 2008;Fall:59–74.
Albani S, Prakken B. The advancement of translational medicine-from regional challenges to global solutions. Nat Med. 2009;15(9):1006–9.
In the land of the monolingual. Nat Med. 2009;15(9):975
Silber BM. Driving drug discovery: the fundamental role of academic labs. Sci Transl Med. 2010;2(30):30 cm16.
Gordon EJ. Small-molecule screening: it takes a village. ACS Chem Biol. 2007;2(1):9–16.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The ADDA is supported by, among others, UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (3P30 CA013148) and UAB’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (5UL1 RR025777).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Everts, M., Knight, W.B., Harris, D.R. et al. The Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance: A Collaborative Partnership to Facilitate Academic Drug Discovery. Pharm Res 28, 1454–1459 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-011-0432-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-011-0432-7