Our Team

Deborah Minor, Ph.D., founded Drug Discovery Alliances (DDA) in 2001. Since this time her company has successfully supported hundreds of pharmaceutical companies to realize end-to-end solutions in drug discovery, drug development, and commercialization. By leveraging her 25+ years of experience in the industry, she has led DDA to become a global key player in connecting pharmaceutical companies with manufacturers and consultants to provide a full continuum of services needed to support biotech and pharmaceutical research and development.

Andy Thompson is an accomplished organic chemist with over four decades of experience in the field. He earned his BS in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1979, followed by a PhD in Organic Synthesis from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 under the mentorship of Professor Amos B. Smith. He then completed an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine, working with Professor Larry Overman. From 1987 to 1996, Andy served as a Process Chemist at Merck in the Department of Process Research. In 1996, he founded and served as President and CEO of J-STAR Research, Inc., a world-leading process research company, until 2023. Currently, he works as an independent consultant, specializing in solving complex organic chemistry challenges and providing strategic guidance on the efforts needed for IND-enabling work, taking development candidates from discovery to Phase I clinical trials.

My education and training are in Organic Chemistry with a Medicinal Chemistry background and a minor in Food Science. I have extensive experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and tobacco industries (74 US Patents). Numerous years (27) of experience in drug discovery and pharmaceutical development and over 19 years of service on an Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Over 16 years of experience in the supervision and mentoring of scientists in medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, and chemical process development. Experience in API scale up, process development, managing API and formulation contract outsourcing, GMP manufacturing, stability studies, quality audits, and regulatory documentation (INDs, NDAs). Started my own company as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, providing advice and recommendations concerning API synthesis, CMC issues, scale-up manufacturing and regulatory submissions. Over 13 years of experience in developing new tobacco materials, aroma-releasing agents, synthetic nicotine, and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) (10 tobacco related patents), and managing tobacco product development groups. Recent experience in assisting and monitoring tobacco-related clinical studies in a team-oriented environment, including study design, protocol development, clinical data review, report writing and documentation for FDA submissions. More recent experience in writing and reviewing e-cigarette chemistry reports for Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) regulatory submission. Eight publications and 25 conference presentations.

Bette is a highly accomplished professional with over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience supporting the development of novel therapeutical agents. Her background includes strategic planning, project/laboratory management, reference standard management, quality systems design, method development, formulation development, validation (analytical/process) and stability determination for drug substances and a variety of products including parenteral, inhalable, oral solid and liquid dosage forms with 4 approved NDAs and 2 MAAs. Throughout her career, she has worked in small to mid-size pharma and contact development and manufacturing organizations and support all phases of drug development from preclinical through commercial. Some of the companies that Bette has worked for include Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Asklepion Pharmaceuticals, ViroPharma (now Takeda), Cephalon Incorporated (now Teva) and Magellan Laboratories (now Catalent). Bette has spent most of my career supporting the development of small molecule new chemical entities (NCEs). She has developed analytical methods to support raw materials, starting materials, APIs, reference standards, excipients, and various formulations including parenterals, liquid suspensions, tablets/coated tablets, capsules including soft gels and hot melt formulations in hard capsules, and controlled release tablets. She has spent many years working with the formulation team to ensure that the analytical methods have the needed selectivity and sensitivity to support the desired specifications, stability of the product, and have the capability to see product formulation issues should they occur. In addition, she overseen the synthesis and qualification of the reference materials needed. She is a strong supporter of the principles being introduced in ICH Q14, particularly designing the system suitability requirements of the method to track the critical attributes of the given method. Bette have also overseen various the reference standard and stability programs through her career. She managed the reference standard and stability programs for Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Asklepion Pharmaceuticals, ViroPharma (now Takeda), Cephalon Incorporated (now Teva) and Magellan Laboratories ( now Catalent). She has presented at numerous conferences on various aspects of stability, reference standard maintenance and the appropriateness of stability-indicating methods. Bette has extensive experience managing the need of her projects and the vendor’s needs, which is necessary to delivery high quality analytical methods, compliant API, robust formulations and critical stability data to support the product in a global clinical or commercial marketplace.

Bryce Minor graduated from NC State and is currently pursuing her MBA. Upon graduation, she began her career at TrialCard, a company focused on helping pharmaceutical manufacturers improve patient access to medications through affordability and access programs. Currently, Bryce serves as the Director of Marketing and Business Development at Drug Discovery Alliances. In this role, she leads strategic marketing efforts and drives business growth by building strong partnerships and identifying new opportunities. Her work enhances the company’s market presence and ensures that clients receive innovative solutions to accelerate their drug discovery processes, ultimately improving the efficiency of research and development timelines.

Corbin holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), where he gained a strong foundation in effective communication, negotiation, and collaboration—skills that are critical in his role at DDA. At DDA, Corbin focuses on helping businesses in the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and health supplement industries optimize their ingredient sourcing and reduce costs. He is dedicated to forming partnerships that bring innovation and quality, ensuring that clients have access to ethically sourced ingredients that meet their product development needs. Corbin’s strong communication background helps him create meaningful client relationships and provide solutions that drive long-term success for businesses.