Drug delivery is a thriving industry in Birmingham thanks to companies like Evonik, pictured here.
In Birmingham’s early years, the city’s unique geological conditions – complete with abundant deposits of iron ore, coal, limestone and dolomite, all essential in the making of iron and steel – made it no surprise that the iron and steel industries boomed, so much so that Birmingham was soon referred to as “the Magic City.” It had all of the right components available to make it so.
Now, experts say, in the Birmingham region’s modern era, the same is true for its prominence in the health care industry – and in the field of drug delivery, in particular.
“It goes with how Birmingham was established – all of the components for making steel were right here, and now, for drug delivery, all components for making drug delivery systems are right here in Birmingham,” said Steve Burgess, Ph.D., chief scientific officer with Avanti Polar Lipids, a biotechnology company headquartered in Alabaster. “It’s a good parallel between how Birmingham was started around steel and has now transitioned to the health care and drug delivery area.”
Avanti is a world-renowned manufacturer of high purity lipids for innovative drug product development.
The term “drug delivery” is used to describe the time and manner in which a drug is delivered to its desired target within the body after administration to an animal or human – all in an effort to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.
Companies like Avanti Polar Lipids, DURECT Corp. and Evonik Industries all have a strong presence in Birmingham, and medical research hubs like Southern Research and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have made the region a place where the drug delivery industry can thrive.
“Birmingham is a hotbed for innovative medical technology, and, therefore, you have scientists and thought leaders in the area,” said John Daly, site manager for Evonik in Birmingham. “And, from a business perspective, Alabama and the Birmingham area are advantageous in the positive way businesses are treated here.”
Evonik, one of the world’s leading specialty chemicals companies with a focus in health care, acquired a life science company in Birmingham in 2011. Globally, the company has revenue of more than $14 billion, and since its debut in Birmingham nine years ago has continued to expand production and its Global Competence Center for Medical Devices in the Magic City.
Birmingham’s emergence as a drug delivery hub began in the 1970s at Southern Research, said Whitney Moro, director of scientific and technical operations at DURECT in Birmingham. A cornerstone of DURECT’s work is with biodegradable polymers, a thermoplastic that degrades over time and allows the medicine encapsulated inside it to be released into the body. It was in Birmingham at Southern Research that the biodegradable polymer field became what it is, Moro said.
“A lot of people involved in that work in the 1970s still remain in Birmingham today and have given rise to different types of delivery platforms,” she said. “Biodegradable polymer manufacturing is one of the focuses in Birmingham, and I don’t see that moving anywhere. A lot of customers think of Birmingham as the hub for biodegradable polymers, and it’s a great asset to Birmingham. I see the field growing and getting even bigger than it is now.”
Southern Research is an independent scientific research organization that employs over 400 scientists across four divisions. So far, 20 drugs have been developed there.
Add UAB’s research prowess into the mix and by the late 1980s and early 1990s, the drug delivery field in Birmingham had taken off, Burgess said. Drug delivery is always evolving – a hot area in the industry right now are RNA-based drugs, Burgess said – but one constant remains in the field: Birmingham.
Art Tipton, Ph.D., agreed. Tipton, who has worked in three startups in the drug delivery space, is the former CEO of Southern Research and is now the principal at consulting firm Vulcan Gray, said Birmingham has had serial success in drug delivery, with many legacy scientists and employees remaining here.
“Birmingham has become such a player in drug delivery and going forward will use its expertise to attract and retain the next generation of leaders and have great, meaningful roles for people as the industry continues to grow,” he said.