Alabama is a life science hub with 780 bioscience companies, and more than 50 medical device companies. Prominent biotech companies in Alabama include BioGx, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Avanti Polar Lipid, TIXiMED, and BioHorizons. The bioscience industry in Alabama employs 18,000 people, and has attracted private investment worth $280 million since 2021.
The major biotech hubs in Alabama include Birmingham, Huntsville, and Hoover. In Birmingham, there is the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and also, the Birmingham Biotechnology Hub, led by Southern Research Institute, aiming to become a leader in developing drug, vaccine, and diagnostics.
Hoover, in Central Alabama, is close to University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Southern Research. It hosts some biotech success stories such as BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and BioHorizons. Huntsville has over 300 companies, and more than 26,000 employees in the bioscience industry.
Alabama is home to Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the United States, and fourth globally. Other academic and research institution include HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, with special focus on human genomic data.
Discovery Life Sciences has its global headquarters at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology campus in Huntsville, while Evonik has an advanced biomaterial manufacturing facility in Birmingham. Southern Research, based in Birmingham, has developed seven FDA approved anti-cancer drugs.
