Tag: Cancer Research

Coming soon to a doctor’s office near you: Access to cutting-edge research and care

Posted on March 17, 2023

By Josh Carpenter, Ph.D.

Growing up in North Alabama, I remember watching movie trailers with excitement. They always ended with a deep voice that said, “opening soon in select theaters near you.” As it turns out, those openings were never “near me” since my local theater was not one of those “select theaters.”  Those movies always premiered in big cities, often on the coasts. Most movies didn’t trickle to the theaters in Florence, Alabama, for another six or nine months. By then, I had forgotten about the trailer.

While kids (and adults) no longer have to wait for movies based on their zip code (thank you, Netflix), they are waiting for something far more important: the best proven medical treatment. Waiting on a movie is an inconvenience. Waiting on the best medical option could be the difference between life and death.

Most scientific experts estimate that it takes an average of 17 years for proven biomedical research to be implemented in clinical practice. That means it takes nearly two decades from when there is evidence of a discovery until it actually benefits patients.

For context, 17 years ago, Sen. Tommy Tuberville was still coaching Auburn, and Nick Saban was coaching the Miami Dolphins. And 17 years ago, Twitter was a brand-new platform for football fans to complain about coaching decisions and play Monday-morning quarterback.

Closing that 17-year research gap and compressing the related lag time from drug discovery to drug deployment are critical objectives of translational research – the kind of work we do at Southern Research.

Since its founding 81 years ago as an Alabama-based nonprofit, Southern Research has executed every step in the long and winding process between the point when a potential medicine is identified in a test tube and when it becomes a drug that enters the human body. Throughout our history, our process has led to 20 new drugs developed at Southern Research, and we’ve assisted hundreds more of our commercial clients in drug development throughout the world—including 50% of all chemotherapies on the market. In fact, we have 20 drugs in the pipeline of development now, many of which are developed in partnership with UAB researchers.

At Southern Research, we believe it is our duty to make the best research and best medical treatments available to our friends and neighbors in Alabama and throughout the Deep South—and, we don’t think they should have to wait 17 years for it.

This sense of duty is why we are embarking on an ambitious new project to build a clinical trials hub that will serve as a unique vehicle to support patients with cutting-edge care and give primary care physicians access to the newest tools in medicine.

This is precision medicine, and we know that it works. Aided by genomic information, precision medicine helps doctors identify the right treatment for the right patient at the right time.

This kind of precision medicine is already happening today, but too few Alabamians are enjoying the benefits. Our Community Health Catalyst platform would enable more providers to bring the best medical care to people across Alabama by giving them information about clinical trials that would meet their unique healthcare needs.

As a non-profit with a proven track record in protecting highly classified data and a long history of biomedical research with hundreds of government and commercial clients, Southern Research is an ideal partner to develop a unique platform that link patients and their doctors to clinical trials.

Motivated to close the 17-year gap, three critical pillars guide the development of the Catalyst platform. First, patients should be in control of their care, and they should know all of their options. Likewise, we are placing the patient’s relationship with their primary care physician at the center of this project. Patients will be able to review their data with their physician and decide what courses of treatment may be best for them. Second, we will make sure patient data is secured and anonymized, and it will never be shared with a third party. Third, we will organize patient data to enable them to benefit from new treatments that could improve their quality of care and open up access to the best drugs on the market.

Not only will this Catalyst improve health outcomes for Alabamians, it will grow jobs and attract investment to our state. Clinical trials are a $50 billion industry now, and that number is expected to grow to $80 billion by 2030. Our project would help Alabama secure clinical trial investments, positioning us as a top-10 state in one of the fastest growing industries in America. We estimate our new platform by itself could add 1,600 new jobs throughout the state, add $145 million in annual economic impact, and support rural healthcare providers who participate with new sources of revenue.

With advances in technology, Alabamians no longer have to wait six to nine months to watch the best new movies. We should not have to wait 17 years to receive the best medical care for our friends and families.

 

Josh Carpenter, Ph.D. is president and CEO of Southern Research.

Southern Research and Rhodium Scientific send bacteria to space to explore potential cancer treatments

Posted on November 7, 2022

Southern Research and Rhodium Scientific have partnered to send bacteria to space on a mission to find new hope for people with cancer.

When Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket launched this morning in Virginia, it was carrying 11 bacterial strains that will help the team study what has emerged as a promising approach to fight cancer.

“Southern Research has always been in the business of moving the boundaries of science,” said Josh Carpenter, Ph.D., president and CEO at Southern Research. “This is just the latest example of our team pushing the frontiers to expand our knowledge and find new ways to help people live longer, healthier lives.”

The project is a partnership with Rhodium Scientific, a woman-owned biotech company based in Houston, Texas, that conducts science in microgravity and specializes in finding ways to use discoveries made in space to develop solutions for life on earth.

“We are excited to partner with Southern Research and support its work in cancer research,” said Olivia G. Holzhaus, founder and CEO of Rhodium Scientific. “This project is a perfect fit for Rhodium Scientific’s bioprospecting program and is the first mission utilizing the cosmos to discover novel compounds of pharmaceutical interest.”

It’s the first time Southern Research’s cancer research team has collaborated with NASA-supported, commercial space researchers. As a result of the project, scientists at Southern Research will be able to explore what happens to bacteria in space and use that information to further explore the cancer-fighting properties of small protein fragments called peptides.

“We know that proteins grow differently in a low gravity environment,” said Rebecca Boohaker, Ph.D., director of oncology at Southern Research. “We are looking to see if there are enough differences that would allow us to develop novel cancer therapies.”

Peptides, which can be obtained from bacteria and other sources, have been shown to have potential in fighting cancer as well as infections. Research has focused on using peptides to trigger an immune response that helps patients battle cancer and also to reduce treatment resistance that plays a significant role in cancer deaths.

Rhodium’s science team will work with astronauts aboard the International Space Station to grow the 11 strains under microgravity conditions, and then return them to Southern Research to conduct the research on the bacteria grown in space, Boohaker said.

Southern Research worked with NASA for many years through its previous engineering division, which was sold earlier this year to Kratos, a national defense contractor. Boohaker said the experiments with bacteria give new life to that longstanding collaboration.

“It’s nice to have Southern Research still participate in NASA’s space mission,” she said.

Southern Research breaks ground on new biotech center and campus renovations

Posted on May 16, 2022

Birmingham, Ala. – Southern Research today broke ground on a flagship biotech center that will anchor the development of 200,000 square feet of new or renovated wet lab space for life sciences. The new facility, located on the corner of Richard Arrington Jr., Blvd., and Ninth Avenue South, will double the organization’s lab space for researching infectious diseases and greatly expand its work to develop new treatments for cancer and other serious illnesses.

The new center is expected to create 150 new jobs at Southern Research and to double the institution’s annual economic impact to $300 million a year.

“This project represents a major investment in the city of Birmingham and in the great work being done by our Southern Research team,” said Josh Carpenter, Ph.D., president and CEO of Southern Research. “It builds on our strengths and puts us in a position for dynamic growth in the future.”

The Alabama Legislature included $45 million for the Southern Research building in the state budget for 2023, marking the state government’s first-ever investment in the 80-year-old campus.

“This represented an opportunity to create high-paying jobs in Birmingham and to support one of the state’s most important industries,” Gov. Kay Ivey said. “Scientific and technical innovation is a major driver of Alabama’s economic growth, and Southern Research has long been a key player in making it happen.”

Construction alone will create more than 1,100 project-related jobs and generate more than $190 million in economic activity, Carpenter said.

In addition to expanding space for research on infectious diseases like COVID-19, the new facility will allow Southern Research to ramp up its efforts to target common diseases that have a profound impact on the well-being of Alabamians and communities.

In addition to this new facility, Southern Research plans to renovate much of its campus and build new space to advance genomic diagnostics work over the next few years.

The city of Birmingham and Jefferson County have each been asked to provide funding alongside Southern Research and the State of Alabama to help accelerate this capital investment. While the contributions have not been approved at the City or the County, officials on both sides of Linn Park expressed support for the expansion.

“This is a transformational moment for Southern Research and for Birmingham,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin. “As someone who benefited from a COVID-19 treatment developed with Southern Research’s experts, I am especially grateful to the scientists who work here and I’m proud to help them take their work to the next level.”

As Economic Development Committee Chair of the Jefferson County Commission, Steve Ammons called the Southern Research project yet another example of local leaders working across partisan and jurisdictional lines to benefit the entire Birmingham metro area.

“When we work together, we can do big things,” Commissioner Ammons said. “This expansion at Southern Research is an important project that will create economic ripples across this county and state.”

Ray Watts, MD, president of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and chair of the Southern Research board of directors, said the new facility will help fulfill his vision of creating a world-class biotech corridor that stretches from the UAB campus to Southern Research and Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham.

“Between UAB and Southern Research, we are working to ensure that Birmingham and Alabama become the biotech commercialization center of the Southeast,” Watts said. “This new facility will help us incubate new biotech entrepreneurs and attract top talent to this area. Southern Research and its vision for this center are intricately tied to the future success of Birmingham.”

Alongside the new construction, Southern Research has contracted Brasfield & Gorrie to help renovate more than 40,000 square feet of its existing campus facilities in Birmingham’s Southside. Investments include building out more vivarium space and launching a new clinical diagnostics lab.

Brendan Price: My journey through cancer led me to Southern Research, hope

Posted on June 2, 2019

A narrative by Brendan Price

For almost 25 years now, I’ve been in an unrelenting dance with cancer. It took my Mom. It claimed my wife. It came after me and pushed me to the brink. To get by, I needed a lot of support, from friends and family. To this day, I am amazed by the help I received. Believe me, I have seen lots of people sitting on waiting room couches all alone.

Of course, I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for great doctors and brilliant scientists working in places like Southern Research to discover treatments that give patients an increased chance for survival.

And I never lost hope. Hope, I discovered, is huge. It’s the golden side of a bad situation when you flip it over, like seeing the world while doing a handstand. I do a lot of those, about 10 a day. It gives me a different way of looking at things.

Southern Research
Brendan Price, a former gymnast, likes to do handstands because they help him view the world with a new perspective.

When cancer first arrived at my door, my life was rocking. I had returned to Texas, where I was coaching Elite level athletes alongside three-time Olympic Coach, Kevin Mazeika. Gymnastics was everything to me. I’d had a great gymnastics career at Southern Illinois University. I was even in the Guinness Book of World Records for the one-mile handstand relay.

Now I was back in Houston. I was young. I had spirit. I was healthy — seemingly.

But 1995 turned out to be a rough year. Early that year, my mom died of breast cancer. She waited too long to get a lump checked out. Her lesson to us was if you have a lump, go get it checked out. We were still in shock about my mother’s death when, bam, my diagnosis came, right out of nowhere. I was 31 years old.

THE DIAGNOSIS

It started with a swollen lymph node in my groin. It wouldn’t go away. When I went to the doctor, I was told it could be a number of things. Infected lymph gland. Cat scratch fever. So, I dismissed it at first. I didn’t feel sick. I wasn’t losing weight. I was working. Everything was good, but I had this lump.

Then the doctor called and said I should come in. It’s serious, she said. I ended up having a conversation sitting across from my doctor that no one ever wants to have. The diagnosis was Stage IV non-Hodgkin large cell B lymphoma. It was considered incurable. That scares a lot of people. And it scared me.

The treatment started immediately. I was given a cocktail of drugs. One of them was fludarabine, which was discovered at Southern Research, though I didn’t know that at the time. Chemo was difficult, no doubt about it. What fludarabine and that cocktail did for me, though, was to get me into remission.

Fludarabine helped me. It has helped a lot of people.

I was super happy about being in remission. My oncologist told me it wouldn’t last, that the cancer would come back. But I got five years of health, five years of a cancer-free life. It allowed me to meet my future wife, Jana, and marry her. I am forever grateful for that.

One day, a friend called about a job possibility in a new production at Disney World called “Festival of the Lion King.” They needed acrobats, so I started to get back into shape. I tried to do chin-ups. I probably ran all of 20 yards that first day. I got stronger and went to Orlando and auditioned with a bunch of young, healthy, ripped guys with full heads of hair. Despite feeling too old and too sick, Disney offered me the job.

Five years and one week after remission came the relapse.

It was my annual checkup in 2002. I felt tired, but I had been working really hard at Disney. It was a surprise, even though that’s the dynamic of the disease. The treatment started, and it was looking grim. An operation removed one third of my liver. The chemo wasn’t working. It was not looking good. I had a bone marrow transplant, and the recovery was slow. I was super sick.

Then, one day, I got a call from Jana. A checkup showed breast cancer. My mom, then me, now her. It was unbelievable. She went from being an amazing caregiver to a patient. We were both sick at the same time. One day, I might be her primary caregiver, the next day she might be mine. It was flip-flopping.

I got better. I’ve been in remission since 2003. When Jana died, she was 53, same age as my mother.

CRITICAL RESEARCH

Southern Research fludarabine
Diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995, Brendan Price’s treatment included fludarabine, a drug discovered at Southern Research.

After that, I moved to Asheville, North Carolina, a place we had loved. Later, I got a call from friends in Birmingham, and I have been here for three and a half years. Last fall, a friend invited me to her house to learn about Southern Research’s fundraiser, The Change Campaign. I was glad I went.

I heard about the seven cancer drugs that have been discovered at Southern Research. I knew all about fludarabine. I was lucky to speak to Dr. Rebecca Boohaker about my experience and how fludarabine had helped me. I even spent a morning with her and got a back-stage tour of what is going on at Southern Research.

I’m encouraged by the work taking place under one roof at Southern Research. There’s not only cancer research, but also neuroscience, green chemistry, and more. The possibilities are unlimited. I’m not sure a lot of people in Birmingham really know what they have here in Southern Research.

To some extent, cancer treatment has been and continues to be slash and burn. It’s about killing cancer cells, but there is collateral damage. The future of treatment is immunotherapy, and that is one of the things that is going on at Southern Research. I think people should get behind that, and donating to their cancer research program is one way to do that.

Today, the description of my status is cancer-free. My oncologists at UAB and I have talked about a “cure.” I don’t use that word for myself. It’s not that I am being negative. It’s that today, in this moment, I am alive, and I am healthy. Tomorrow, I might or might not be.

Through all this, I’ve learned that there can be a golden side to every bad situation when you flip it over. I’m reminded of that every time I do a handstand – inverted, looking at things with an entirely new perspective.

Read a story about how fludarabine helped young Liliana Thompson.

Southern Research at 75: Ben May’s gift launches a cancer program

Posted on October 18, 2017

Mobile lumber magnate Ben May wanted Southern Research to do something special with his $25,000 gift in early 1946.

The non-profit research organization’s original charter spelled out a mission to support the growth of Southern industry, but May demanded that his donation focus on improving human welfare in the region.

May’s seed money launched Southern Research’s cancer program, which over several decades has contributed to significant advances in cancer treatment and drug discovery.

Southern Research’s work in the 1950s and 1960s defined the fundamentals of effective cancer chemotherapy at a time when there was widespread skepticism about the practice. Led by Dr. Howard Skipper, the team demonstrated the principles of combination chemotherapy to counter resistance to a single drug.

Skipper’s strategy was straightforward. He would harness all of Southern Research’s resources to develop “concepts, hypotheses, theories, rules, laws, principles, mathematical models,” anything that would speed progress in the battle against cancer.

“Trial and error is a slow business,” Skipper recalled later. “But we have helped in forming a number of hypotheses that have withstood the test of time and proved helpful in providing guidance to many of our clinical associates in this country and abroad.”

IMPORTANT BONDS

Early on, Southern Research’s cancer program developed close ties to the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York, whose director, Dr. Cornelius Rhoads, had worked with Skipper in the Army Chemical Warfare Section during World War II. The Sloan-Kettering connection acted as a springboard.

SR 75th_Logo_Horz_RGBIn the 1950s, major funding for Southern Research’s cancer work began flowing in from the National Cancer Institute, a relationship still intact today, and the American Cancer Society, among others. Many individuals followed May’s lead with significant gifts.

Skipper’s cancer research program quickly grew in prominence.

Southern Research’s budget for health-related research in 1950 totaled less than $73,000. Ten years later, the figure was $1.7 million, more than half the entire budget.

Medical research remains a key focus for the organization.

“WHAT HE STARTED HERE”

Ben May
Ben May
May’s involvement with Southern Research didn’t stop with that game-changing $25,000 gift. He joined its board of directors in 1951 and remained a trustee for more than two decades. He also sponsored several research projects and contributed to the capital fund.

May and Skipper remained close over the years, often exchanging letters.

On Feb. 18, 1972, May replied to a letter he had just received from Skipper.

“Dear Howard:

“Thanks a lot for your letter of February 16. I note that you feel that my seed money was not wasted at the time of the Southern Research decisions. If there was success, I figure it was due to your ability and fine work,” May wrote.

In early November that year, May and Dr. Martin Perlman of Mobile traveled to Birmingham to visit Skipper at Southern Research. May sent a letter of thanks to Skipper on Nov. 9. “It was a real pleasure to be with you again,” he wrote, “and I felt fortunate that I could make the trip and see you as I did.”

A few days later, May was dead.

Soon after, Skipper wrote Perlman:

“I loved Mr. May. You may know it. I know that he knew it. I shall always be grateful to you for bringing him to the SRI Dinner not long ago, and for allowing us to have lunch and visit with you just a week before his passing.

“I sensed that he was happy with what he started here and that he was proud, almost as a father would be proud, or what we have been able to do and are trying to do,” Skipper wrote. “This is what I wanted so much for him to feel, but one can never repay the sort of help and inspiration he gave so unselfishly.”

Researching radiosensitizers, a new class of drugs that would make tumors more vulnerable to radiation therapy

Posted on May 24, 2017

Two out of three cancer patients are treated with radiation, but the therapy often fails to wipe out the tumor or slow its growth. Southern Research is working to develop a new class of drugs that will help the radiation deliver a more powerful punch to the disease.

Dr. Bo Xu, M.D., Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow and Chair of Southern Research’s Oncology Department, said a radiosensitizer, as this kind of drug is known, would greatly benefit cancer patients by improving the success rate of radiation by reducing resistance to the treatment.

“Our project focuses on making those tumor cells more vulnerable to radiation by targeting a critical survival mechanism that allows them to recover from the effects of radiation,” Xu said.

It’s a challenging project, in the works for almost a decade. It got started when Southern Research scientists began looking at fundamental biology concepts to identify a pathway that could play a role in the ability of cancer cells to survive radiation.

Southern Research Bo Xu radiosensitizer
Southern Research’s Dr. Bo Xu is working to develop a radiosensitizer, a drug that would make tumors more vulnerable to radiation therapy.

They discovered that disrupting the tumor’s self-protection mechanism – in this case, an interaction between two specific proteins – makes the cancer more sensitive to radiation treatment, Xu said.

“The whole idea is to use this strategy to find a new drug that can be used by patients who receive radiation. This drug wouldn’t have toxicity because if it got into the cell it wouldn’t mess up the major functions of the protein network,” he said.

“It would only work when radiation is delivered, and that radiation would be more effective. It’s like a catalyst.”

Using funding from the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance (ADDA), a partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Southern Research scientists recently scanned thousands of compounds to identify potential drug candidates. The focus now is to validate the results of those scans and to identify lead compounds for more testing.

“Our hope is that in three years, we can identify a novel class of radiosensitizers that can help the approximately two-thirds of cancer patients who will eventually receive radiotherapy,” Xu said.

CRITICAL INTERFERENCE

While some forms of cancer, such as lymphoma, are sensitive to radiation therapy, many others are not. Solid tumors with a low supply of oxygen, called hypoxic tumors, are tough to treat with radiation. So are cancer cells with a high DNA-repair capability.

To develop a radiosensitizer, Xu is taking aim at a protein that binds to DNA and recognizes the damage being done by radiation. The protein then joins forces with an enzyme to initiate a molecular repair job.

“If that recruitment is successful, then the DNA damage will be repaired, and the cancer cell will survive,” Xu said. “What we’re trying to do is to block this protein from finding the other one, so that the repair process will be diminished or affected. That way, the tumor cells will die.”

To prevent the DNA repair job from getting started, Xu is investigating a small peptide mimic, a small sequence of amino acids that is similar to a human protein but just a fraction of its size. These strands get to the site to block the interaction of the two natural, full-size proteins.

“This interference makes the cancer cell more vulnerable to radiation treatment,” he said.

Radiosensitizers are in demand, but they have proved difficult to develop. While the concept has been around for half a century, very few radiosensitizers have actually become available, according to Xu.

“While there are compounds that work synergistically with radiation, there are few drugs that were developed as a pure radiosensitizer,” he said.

In addition to the ADDA, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense prostate cancer program have provided Southern Research with funding for this research over the years.

Helping clients with Immuno-Oncology research

Posted on March 27, 2017

Since Southern Research received its first contributions for cancer research in 1946, our scientists have been working independently and with U.S. government and commercial clients to understand and work toward cures for various cancers. During the organization’s 71-year history fighting this devastating disease, Southern Research has endeavored to stay on the front of this challenge. This commitment has led to the development of the first quantitative tumor models, the log-kill model, combination chemotherapy, and the discovery of seven approved chemotherapeutic drugs. Our Drug Development team has built a well-established reputation as a pioneer in anticancer drug development, having evaluated half of all FDA-approved anticancer drugs currently on the market. And we continue to evaluate hundreds more compounds annually to establish the in vitro biochemical effects and in vivo efficacy of potential new anticancer drugs.

The world’s “newest” tool helping to eliminate cancer is the human immune system. Southern Research is committed to helping clients working in the Immuno-Oncology realm the same way we have helped the cancer research community for the past seven decades. The first of our Immunology-Oncology models was presented at the 2016 Immuno-Oncology Summit in Boston. Since then, our efforts have continued. If you plan to attend the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C., our drug development scientists will be waiting to talk with you at the Southern Research booth, #2423, about our anticancer efficacy services.

 

Robert R. Meyer Foundation gift boosts Drug Discovery efforts

Posted on January 23, 2017

Birmingham’s Robert R. Meyer Foundation is supporting Southern Research’s Drug Discovery program with a $500,000 gift that aims to accelerate efforts to find new treatments for unmet medical conditions and rare and neglected diseases.

The contribution renews close ties between the Birmingham-based non-profit research organization and a charitable trust that became an important backer of its scientific work more than 60 years ago.

Southern Research has earned a solid reputation in drug discovery, with seven FDA-approved anticancer drugs, a number that ranks it among the most prolific in the field. In addition, Southern Research’s labs have screened many other potential medicines, and its researchers have developed a robust pipeline of promising therapeutics.

Southern Research Meyer Foundation
John Meyer, front row, second from right, stands for a photo at the dedication of Kettering-Meyer Lab II in 1958. His wife is next to him, and daughter Nancy behind him.

“The Robert R. Meyer Foundation’s longstanding support of Southern Research has been fruitful, contributing to many discoveries made by the organization’s scientists that have improved the lives of people battling cancer and other serious diseases,” said Beverly Baker, an Advisory Committee member for the foundation.

“The foundation’s leadership is confident that this gift will facilitate additional insights that lead the way to new treatments,” Baker added.

EARLY SUPPORT

The Meyer Foundation has supported Southern Research since 1953, when it provided $100,000 to match funding from the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for the construction of the Kettering-Meyer Laboratory. The Meyer Foundation made another significant contribution in 1957 to facilitate construction of a second Kettering-Meyer Lab.

In addition, the foundation has supported Southern Research’s cancer programs with other donations over the years.

“Significant gifts from the Robert R. Meyer Foundation in the 1950s enabled Southern Research to make important advances in drug discovery and have contributed to the impact our research and drugs have made on patients around the world,” said Art Tipton, Ph.D., president and CEO of Southern Research.

“The foundation’s latest gift will allow us to continue to explore important scientific breakthroughs that are high-risk, high-reward endeavors, rarely funded through government grants,” Tipton added. “This is the kind of research that results in the discovery of new drugs.”

Southern Research’s Drug Discovery division focuses on identifying novel treatments for serious conditions such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and viral and bacterial infections.

The division works as a partner of the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, among others. It also collaborates with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, and other non-profit organizations and research institutions.

“Southern Research has the unparalleled capacity to investigate a wide range of potential treatments for complicated conditions,” said Mark J. Suto, Ph.D., vice president of the Drug Discovery division.

“Our innovative research programs and unique technological capabilities position the scientists at Southern Research to investigate possibilities and achieve meaningful outcomes.”

IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS

The Robert R. Meyer Foundation was formed in 1942, just one year after the founding of Southern Research. Over the years, it has contributed more than $65 million to hundreds of charitable organizations.

Robert Meyer was a prosperous hotel operator with properties in Birmingham; Baltimore; Jacksonville, Florida; Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina. He served on the boards of the Waldorf Astoria and Governor Clinton hotels in New York City, as well as local enterprises such as DeBardeleben Coal and Woodward Iron.

He also served on Southern Research’s board of directors in 1946, one year before his death. His son, John Meyer, became a member of the board the next year, serving until 1970.

John Meyer was optimistic that cancer research would unravel the mysteries of the deadly disease and yield new treatments. At the dedication ceremony for the Kettering-Meyer lab on Dec. 17, 1953, John Meyer introduced his oldest daughter, Jane, to those attending the event.

“It seems particularly appropriate that youngsters of Janie’s age group should play a part here since their generation undoubtedly will be among the largest beneficiaries of current cancer research,” John Meyer said. “It is not only possible, but altogether probable, that by the time this young lady reaches maturity, the battle with cancer will have been won.”

While the struggle has not yet been won, the Meyer Foundation’s latest gift will help Southern Research continue the fight through the search for new medicines.

National Cancer Institute awards major contract to Southern Research

Posted on November 28, 2016

Southern Research has been awarded a new, five-year Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the National Cancer Institute to investigate the pharmacokinetic properties of antitumor and other therapeutic agents of interest to the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis (DCTD) under NCI contract HHSN261201600021I.

Southern Research NCI contract
Bernard Ntsikoussalabongui and Katie Isbell of the Drug Development division study results in a Southern Research lab.

RFP number N02CM67000-11 was issued under full and open competition, which resulted in five IDIQ awards. Task orders will be competed among the five IDIQ Contractors in the award pool and placed off of the IDIQ as requirements arise.

This IDIQ contract is one of three long-term contracts the Birmingham-based organization holds with the NCI to support its objective of developing compounds against cancer and other diseases.

“Southern Research has been working with the NCI for over 30 years with one goal in mind: helping advance the pipeline of potential drug candidates so the NCI can move forward with clinical trials,” said Sheila Grimes, D.V.M., Ph.D., D.A.C.V.P., pathology program leader and principal investigator on the project for Southern Research.

KEY ANALYSIS

Pharmacological testing is an integral part of the drug discovery and drug development processes. In order for clinical trials to commence with a candidate compound, researchers must first answer questions pertaining to how the drug interacts with, and exists within, the human body.

To accomplish this goal, Southern Research will employ a number of tests to explore in vivo tumor models and analyze the bioanalytic makeup of the compound. Under the scope of the contract, the organization is tasked with evaluating how the sample drug moves through a living system and analyzing the amount of time required for candidate compounds to break down within a system, or under a range of conditions.

“Southern Research has worked closely with the NCI for more than 30 years, and we are proud to continue those efforts in this program defining the pharmacokinetics of the next generation of anticancer medications,” said Art Tipton, Ph.D., president and CEO of Southern Research.

“The trinity of government, industry, and nonprofit research organizations like Southern Research is a necessary collaboration to enable most drugs to reach the market. We’re pleased to continue our role, and I commend our team for their ongoing extraordinary work in the field.”

Southern Research at 75: Discovering cancer drugs and extending lives

Posted on November 2, 2016

Southern Research scientists have been attacking cancer since the organization’s early days, developing successful approaches to chemotherapy, screening biological agents that kill cancer cells, and making other advances.

A key contribution to this fight involves the organization’s track record for discovering FDA-approved anticancer medicines.

“Of the 200 or so drugs currently used to treat cancer, seven were discovered at Southern Research,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in a video message to mark the Birmingham-based non-profit’s 75th anniversary in October.

Southern Research dacarbazine
Dacarbazine became Southern Research’s first FDA-approved cancer drug in 1975.

Collins noted that two of Southern Research’s cancer drugs are on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, indicating their critical importance to oncology. They are fludarabine, a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and dacarbazine, used against malignant melanoma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“At Southern Research, we have developed seven anticancer drugs and made critical advances in basic research that have deepened our understanding of cancer,” said Art Tipton, Ph.D., the organization’s president and CEO.

“We will continue to use our deep science and development tools to work toward novel treatments for a disease that kills a half million Americans each year,” he added.

Southern Research’s first anticancer drug, dacarbazine, received FDA approval in 1975 and remained a front-line treatment against melanoma for many years. Its seventh FDA-approved drug, pralatrexate, entered the market in 2009 as a treatment for aggressive blood cancers.

EXTENDING LIVES

The road to FDA approval is long, as the timeline for pralatrexate demonstrates.

Research on drugs in this class began in the 1950s at California’s SRI International. A partnership between Southern Research, SRI and New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering led to clinical trials on related compounds beginning in the 1980s.

SR 75th_Logo_Horz_RGBOnce pralatrexate was identified as viable clinical candidate, it was licensed to Allos Therapeutics for additional development in 2002. FDA approval for pralatrexate (brand name: Folotyn) as a treatment for peripheral T-cell lymphoma came in 2009 – six decades after the initial research began.

“We prepared and tested many compounds before finally identifying a substance that gave favorable results,” Southern Research organic chemist Robert Piper said at the time. “We are very glad our compound will help alleviate human suffering and extend lives.”

Piper’s role was to synthesize quantities of high-purity pralatexate used in preclinical investigations.

Piper was also involved in the discovery of amifostine, an FDA-approved medicine that protects patients from harmful effects associated with radiation treatment and chemotherapy.

THE ‘DREAM TEAM’

The foundation of Southern Research’s success in drug discovery was laid in the 1950s, when the organization assembled what former CEO Jack Secrist, Ph.D., has called the “Dream Team” in cancer research.

Under the overall direction of Howard Skipper, the leadership team was composed of John Montgomery, Frank Schabel and Lee Bennett, who headed the Organic Chemistry, Chemotherapy and Biochemistry departments at Southern Research, respectively.

“They worked together for many years, and together with their staff, were a very effective team,” Secrist said in an interview.

Southern Research cancer team
The Southern Research ‘Dream Team’, from left, Frank Schabel, Lee Bennett, Howard Skipper, and John Montgomery.

The Southern Research team established an efficient and effective approach to the development of potential new drugs, he said.

“New compounds were evaluated rapidly, and those with potential were subjected to more detailed evaluations as soon as possible, and compounds that had no activity or weak activity were set aside to make way for new compounds,” said Secrist, who once headed Southern Research’s Drug Discovery division.

This approach to drug discovery is still in use at Southern Research today, he added.

The contribution of Montgomery, a member of Southern Research’s cancer team for more than 40 years, was particularly significant. He was involved in the discovery of five FDA-approved anticancer drugs: lomustine, carmustine, dacarbazine, fludarabine, and clofarabine.

“This is what we all aspire to as drug discovery researchers, moving life-saving compounds from conception to clinic,” said Secrist, co-inventor of clofarabine with Montgomery.

Read a story about how clofarabine helped save the life of a teenage leukemia patient.

 

This is Part Nine of a series looking at the history of Southern Research.

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