Alcohol Research Group

What Alcohol Research Group does

Alcohol Research Group (ARG) is a non-profit public health research institute operating as an organized unit within the Public Health Institute, headquartered in Emeryville, California. Founded in 1959–1960, ARG conducts multidisciplinary epidemiological, behavioral, and policy research on alcohol and other drug use, with a particular focus on health disparities affecting racial/ethnic, sexual/gender, and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Its core research infrastructure is the National Alcohol Survey (NAS), a population-based longitudinal survey administered approximately every five years since 1979–1980, which produces 45+ years of continuous data on U.S. adult drinking patterns, alcohol use disorders, and help-seeking behaviors.

ARG's core outputs include the National Alcohol Research Center, which coordinates research across ten distinct areas (disparities, epidemiology, health, policy, treatment and recovery, international, methodology, environment, and intervention trials); the National Alcohol Survey and its accessible datasets; a Research Training Program offering predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships; and an extensive peer-reviewed publications library. Methodological capabilities include dried blood spot sampling integrated into recent NAS cycles and advanced alcohol content measurement tools.

ARG's business model is grant-funded rather than commercial: approximately $5.5 million in annual funding flows from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), supplemented by training program stipends and formal data access agreements for NAS datasets. The organization serves federal and state health agencies, academic researchers, healthcare providers, and vulnerable populations through policy advisory work, peer-reviewed publications, press releases, and PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center activities spanning multiple countries.

Name

Alcohol Research Group

Legal name

Alcohol Research Group

Website

https://arg.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Alcohol Research Group is a non-profit public health research institute conducting epidemiological and policy research on alcohol and drug use, anchored by the longitudinal National Alcohol Survey and funded primarily through federal grants from NIAAA and NIDA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Health Research

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

ESG, Sustainability & Impact Research (BPAHALAL)

Keywords

• Alcohol epidemiology research
• Public health research
• Substance use research
• Health policy analysis
• Health disparities research

Headquarters

HQ city

Emeryville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Research Grants: Primary funding from federal agencies including the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), providing approximately $5.5 million in annual funding.
2. Training Program Fees: Predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowship programs generate revenue through tuition/stipend arrangements for research training.
3. Data Access and Publications: ARG provides access to National Alcohol Survey datasets and publishes research findings, potentially through licensing arrangements with academic institutions and researchers.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Alcohol Research Group (ARG) is a non-profit research organization that conducts epidemiological, policy, and health services research on alcohol and other substance use. Its core offering is the National Alcohol Research Center, anchored by the National Alcohol Survey (NAS) — a nationally representative longitudinal survey of U.S. adults conducted every five years — and a portfolio of specialized research areas covering disparities, health outcomes, policy, and methodology.

Product overview

Alcohol Research Group (ARG) is a non-profit research organization that operates as a research institution rather than a traditional software product company. The core offering is the National Alcohol Research Center, which serves as the central hub for ARG's multidisciplinary research activities. The center encompasses the National Alcohol Survey (NAS) program—a major longitudinal survey conducted every 5 years that monitors alcohol consumption and problems among U.S. adults—as well as multiple specialized research modules covering disparities, epidemiology, health outcomes, policy, international research, and methodology. ARG also provides a Research Training Program with predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, distributes NAS datasets to qualified researchers, and maintains an extensive publications library. These components work together as an integrated research infrastructure supporting alcohol and substance use studies, with the National Alcohol Survey serving as the foundational data collection mechanism and the various research areas representing specialized analytical modules built upon that data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Research Training Program A comprehensive training initiative offering predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, seminars, and mentorship opportunities to develop the next generation of substance use researchers; trainees work under ARG faculty on alcohol epidemiology and disparities projects.
• National Alcohol Survey (NAS) Datasets Accessible datasets from the National Alcohol Survey, a comprehensive national survey conducted approximately every 5 years monitoring alcohol consumption patterns, alcohol use disorders, and related problems among U.S. adults; available to qualified researchers through formal data access agreements for secondary analysis.

Quantifiable outcome

• Research findings have informed national and international policies including low-risk drinking guidelines, economic costs of excessive alcohol consumption estimates, and DSM-5 criteria for alcohol use disorders

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Pan American Health Organization / World Health OrganizationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2019ARG holds designation as a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on Alcohol Epidemiology and Injury, collaborating on global injury rates, risk assessment, and international policy development.
• Public Health InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerARG operates as an organized unit within the Public Health Institute, one of the largest public health organizations in the United States, providing organizational infrastructure and administrative support.
• Sheffield Alcohol Research GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational collaboration with UK-based Sheffield Alcohol Research Group for predictive system modeling of future drinking trends.
• International Research PartnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerARG collaborates with country-level policy makers and regional partners across multiple countries including Canada, Mexico, India, Poland, South Africa, and others on alcohol-related health research.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• RTI International: Major nonprofit scientific research institute delivering federally funded health and substance use research including survey and epidemiological work — analogous organizational model to ARG.
• NORC at the University of Chicago: Independent research organization that conducts large-scale national health surveys and epidemiological studies — peer in operating federally funded survey/research infrastructure at scale.
• RAND Corporation: Large, diversified nonprofit research organization that performs health, substance use, and policy research for federal clients — comparable business model (nonprofit, federally funded research infrastructure, mixed methods).
• National Center for Health Statistics (CDC/NCHS): Federal agency that produces national health surveillance data overlapping with ARG's alcohol surveillance role — a stakeholder rather than peer, but the closest comparator for national-scale alcohol-surveillance authority.

Direct peers

• Prevention Research Center (PIRE): Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation operates federally funded alcohol- and drug-prevention research centers with similar NIAAA-affiliated epidemiology, policy, and methodological agendas.
• Indiana University Alcohol Research Center: Another NIAAA-funded P42 Alcohol Research Center focused on alcohol epidemiology and consumption-related harm — competes with ARG for the same NIAAA Center funding.
• Sheffield Alcohol Research Group: University of Sheffield-based alcohol epidemiology and policy research group. Listed by ARG as a direct international collaborator and the closest direct peer in alcohol epidemiology methodology and policy modeling.

Others

• Drug Policy Alliance: Policy organization focused on drug and alcohol policy reform — adjacent in policy domain and funding ecosystem but operates as advocacy/think tank rather than as a research institute.

Regional players

• Alcohol Focus Scotland: Scotland-focused nonprofit using research and policy work to reduce alcohol harm — comparable mission and NGO structure, but serves a different geography.

Emerging players

• Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research: Health-system-affiliated research center running large cohort and epidemiological studies on alcohol and substance use outcomes — comparable in methods and disease-outcomes focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/argphi
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCP7zb5yyZPL2rztObfDDuxg
• Facebookfacebook.com/alcoholresearchgroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alcohol-research-group
• Instagraminstagram.com/alcoholresearchgroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Alcohol Research Group