A UAB start-up company specializing in custom human cell engineering and drug discovery and commercialization has been acquired by an international drug discovery company.
DiscoveryBioMed was founded in 2007 by Erik Schwiebert, Ph.D., who was then a UAB associate professor with tenure in UAB Joint Health Sciences. The company spun off intellectual property licensed through The UAB Research Foundation, which is now a part of the UAB Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 
Erik Schwiebert
Since its founding, DiscoveryBioMed has steadily grown, focusing on biologically relevant cellular models for renal, skin, taste, ophthalmic, liver, respiratory, oncology, and other therapeutic areas. This focus led to Eurofins Discovery’s interest in acquiring the company, according to Eurofins’ July 5 press release.
“The addition of DiscoveryBioMed supports Eurofins Discovery’s strategy to have the most complete, highest quality portfolio of drug discovery services and products,” according to the press release.
Schwiebert will now serve as a Senior Scientific Director for Eurofins Panlabs.
Eurofins offers a portfolio of more than 3,500 drug discovery services and more than 1,800 products, including in vitro assays, cell-based phenotypic assays, safety pharmacology and efficacy, ADME toxicology, medicinal chemistry design, synthetic chemistry and custom proteins, and assay development capabilities.
DiscoveryBioMed’s contract research organization services business was acquired by Eurofins Panlabs.
However, DiscoveryBioMed’s research and development programs and assets as lead and hit-to-lead small molecules discovered, validated, and profiled using human cell-based or ‘humanized’ drug discovery are now held and being developed by AeroNeph Therapeutics, a new company being spun out of DiscoveryBioMed. More information will be released about AeroNeph Therapeutics in the near future.