Answered by Matthew Renfrow, founder
Reliant is a biotechnology company focused on developing diagnostic and prognostic tools for patients with IgA nephropathy.
It was founded in 2016 as a spinout company from The University of Alabama at Birmingham focused on the development of diagnostic and monitoring tests for a chronic kidney disease called IgA nephropathy. It started as an incubator company with Discovery Biomed in the River Hills Business Park on U.S. 280 in Shelby County and has since grown into its own custom laboratory space there.
Reliant has obtained contracts with more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies developing therapies and conducting clinical trials for the treatment of IgA nephropathy.
What is the most important thing your company accomplished in the past year?
Over the past year, Reliant has begun the transition from providing their assays as a contract research organization service to customers to developing prototype assay kits that will go into production as its first launched product. These kits will be for research use only, but that will only be the beginning. 2023 saw an increase in the demand for Reliant’s assays as it began marketing them at national and international kidney conferences.
What is a short-term and long-term goal for the company in 2024?
Reliant plans to launch its first research kit product in spring 2024. The company has just received a very promising score on a second NIH SBIR application and will find out in early 2024 if the grant totaling $ 1.9 million will be funded. At the same time, Relaint will be partnering with a clinical diagnostic laboratory to do an external validation of one of its assays as a way to initiate the process of regulatory approval for clinical use of the test. Its goal is to execute so that 2024 will continue to push our business plan forward and the founders are confident that the interest in its tests will continue to grow.
What makes Alabama unique when it comes to the startup ecosystem?
The Birmingham biotech scene and the state of Alabama has taken on a "can do" attitude with the goal making Alabama a hub of biotechnology development.
