Long considered a destination of choice for life science multinationals seeking to tap into the latent potential of Middle Eastern markets, the United Arab Emirates’ pharmaceuticals, medtech and healthcare sectors have all been exhibiting significant growth momentum in the post-pandemic period.
“Thanks to its comparatively attractive operating environment and strong business fundamentals, the UAE pharma market is nowadays held to be of high strategic relevance by many investors and tends to be dominated by international innovative drug developers,” notes Samir Khalil, executive director of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in the Middle East and Africa (MEA). “Moreover, the local sector has been growing well above the global average at around 7.5 percent per annum since 2016 and is today worth as much as USD 4.5 billion, making it a consequential marketplace in spite of the country’s modest population size of only ten million,” he observes.
“Just like for many of our peers, the UAE remains a high priority for my company because the value of a market is not solely defined by size. There are many other important factors at play that need to be taken into account when placing big-ticket investments,” agrees Amgen’s general manager for MEA, Mohamed Nasser. “My management board especially appreciates the reliability, transparency and consistency of this particular market. It’s a life science ecosystem that enjoys a stable outlook, which reduces any risk of ambiguity, and allows us to plan well ahead with confidence,” he elaborates.
[The UAE] has a life science ecosystem that enjoys a stable outlook, which reduces any risk of ambiguity, and allows us to plan well ahead with confidence
Mohammed Nasser, Amgen
In a part of the world notorious for its volatility, instability, and arbitrariness, having a safe landing spot where the rules of the game can be counted upon to remain constant clearly stands for a lot. “As a business, you are always looking to try and minimise exposure to possible shocks from external factors, and in Dubai and Abu Dhabi you have the comfort of knowing that everything is likely to run smoothly and that the operating environment has been designed specifically to support you,” explains Ali Farooq Abdulqader, founder & CEO of Al-Hikma FZCO, who repatriated many of his company’s functions from the turbulence of nearby Iraq.
The pricing of pharmaceutical products stands as a case in point. “Prices tend to be predictable as they are initially based on the price in the country of origin. Then over the next 18 months, the UAE authorities set the price tag of treatment at the median point of a global basket of 18 countries,” note Khalil. “After that, a code is swiftly established for reimbursement either in the private or public sector. Having this level of fairness, visibility and foresight obviously makes business strategizing much easier than would otherwise be the case,” he explains.
Then there is also the reassurance that the rule of law shall be applied in matters such as intellectual property rights. “At the turn of the last decade, the Emirate’s Ministry of Health and Prevention implemented an eight-year data exclusivity period from the date of marketing approval for originator pharmaceutical products. This provides research-driven drug makers with a viable business environment that is conducive to introducing their very latest breakthrough therapies,” enthuses Amr Seif, MEA area lead of the Japanese specialty drug developer, Astellas.
Indeed, “Emirati policymakers have gone out of their way to set up a robust legal framework and regulatory environment that protects and enforces IP rights effectively – both through patent regulation and a reinforced regulatory data protection framework,” concurs Shahad Mahdi, acting secretary general of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of the Gulf (PHRMAG), representing the top 26 innovative biopharmaceutical research companies active in the region.
“The importance of this to our members cannot be overstated because IP is a fundamental component of the biopharmaceutical industry model, serving as a cornerstone for sustaining the innovation cycle, and ensuring that research continuously delivers today’s medicines and unlocks tomorrow’s cures. Having such safeguards in place provides the necessary guarantees for our members to feel able to bring first-of-a-kind, breakthrough innovations to market,” she adds.
“We have been careful to send a strong signal to the international investor community that our government takes both patient wellbeing and protection of the investments of private pharma companies incredibly seriously,” confirms Dr Amin Alamiri, assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Health.
“Not only do we have a zero-tolerance approach to patent infringement, but we have installed a comprehensive, nationwide track & trace system monitoring the passage of each and every pack of medicine right from the factory floor to the hands of the patient, thus ensuring that there can be no counterfeit medicines in circulation.”
Investment Friendliness
Furthermore, on top of all the aforementioned guarantees, there exist a vast array of benefits and incentives conceived to proactively entice in foreign direct investment. “Great efforts have been made over a sustained time period to put out the welcome mat and signal that this is a market that is firmly open for business. The local banking system, tax regime and laws have all been mobilized to promote an entrepreneurial mindset and enable overseas to entities to come in and flourish,” enthuses Abdulqader.
For instance, Dubai has made a point of establishing 27 designated ‘free zones’ complete with grants, tax breaks and sector-orientated enabling structures covering healthcare, biosciences and medtech. “These zones seek to create an environment that nurtures start-ups and facilitates their growth into successful commercial entities. This year, one of our focus areas has been to facilitate the establishment of new medical device, telehealth, and virtual care businesses,” recounts Ibtesam Al Bastaki, director of healthcare investment at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).
Fresh legislation permitting 100 percent foreign ownership of UAE-based companies for the first time and the issuing of 10-year visas for investors and professionals in the medical, scientific, research and technical fields have also been helping to smooth the way and consolidate Dubai’s ranking as number one in the Middle East in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index.
The fabulous incentives, and stable operating conditions [in the UAE] are backed up by a quality of life offering simply unmatchable anywhere else in the region
Daniel Vella Friggieri, Aspen Pharmacare
According to Invest Emirates, in 2022, the UAE outperformed all other MENA countries in its ability to attract multinational pharma companies, registering some 92 different marketing offices, employing more than 3,000 employees, along with a foreign direct investment value of more than USD 817 million.
Meanwhile, “the fabulous incentives, and stable operating conditions are backed up by a quality of life offering simply unmatchable anywhere else in the region – characterised by world-class education, entertainment and living standards – which are especially important when wanting to attract expats with families,” notes Daniel Vella Friggieri, regional CEO for Europe and Middle East at Aspen Pharmacare.
Little wonder then that, in an overwhelming show of confidence in the Emirates, no fewer than 24 of the largest 30 pharmaceutical multinationals worldwide are currently choosing to base their regional headquarters within the country. “When you consider everything that this place has to offer it’s really a no-brainer. We were quick to establish a fully-fledged organization out of our UAE office able to handle much of our operations for the entire region. This encompasses everything from medical activities to market access, regulatory, commercial, finance, compliance and supply chain,” confides Ahmad Abu Dahab, vice president for Middle East, Turkey, and Northern Africa at the Swedish biotech, SOBI.
Fast-Track Access to Innovation
At the same time, the UAE has, time and time again, been quick off the mark to carve out fresh competitive advantages. For a start, the UAE’s leadership in market access has never looked stronger. “Through fast-track regulatory pathways, Emirati patients nowadays gain access to innovative medicines at the same time as their counterparts in the US and Europe, and in some cases even ahead,” exclaims Mohamed Ezz Eldin, Novartis’ general manager for the Gulf countries.
“More often than not, approval is granted immediately after the registration in the country of origin, whether that be in Europe or the USA. This has put the nation on the map as an enthusiastic early adopter of breakthrough medical science and that is something we should be immensely proud of,” agrees Basel Thaher, regional head for the Middle East and MEA GM for family-owned Italian mid-cap Menarini.
“Our government is profoundly committed to providing speedy access to latest generation cutting edge therapies and realized we needed to do more to support the life science industry with regard to approval timeframes. We have therefore been experimenting with ways to streamline and accelerate the process,” explains the Ministry of Health’s Amin Alamiri.
Through fast-track regulatory pathways, Emirati patients nowadays gain access to innovative medicines at the same time as their counterparts in the US and Europe, and in some cases even ahead
Mohamed Ezz Eldin, Novartis
The country has, for example, been pioneering the use of electronic submissions, making it one of the first markets to adopt this innovative approach. Companies can now submit drug registration applications completely online. Meanwhile the authorities are more than happy to receive a dossier prior to receipt of an approval from the United States or European Union regulators. “Nowadays, upon receipt of an EMA or FDA approval, drugs can often be registered that very same day here on the ground in the UAE,” confirms Alamiri.
Moreover, whenever a serious unmet medical is identified, workaround solutions can often be found. We were able to bring our medicine for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer to market very early and prior to registration in some cases because decision-making authorities were proactive, receptive, well-informed, and up to speed with the latest international developments in medical science,” says Vítor Papão, general manager for the Middle East and Russia at Gilead Sciences.
“Even for orphan drugs, the speed at which these therapies are reaching patients is exceptional. Clearly the authorities understand the value of treating patients with rare conditions early on and this is reflected in the urgency of their decision making and their willingness to offer fast-track registration designation,” agrees Mohamed Abu Shawish, general manager for the GCC Cluster at the rare disease specialty outfit, Kyowa Kirin.
Meanwhile the UAE has proved more than happy to experiment with other novel market access formulas such as the trialling out of ‘value management agreements.’ “In July 2021, we collaborated with one of our partners and the UAE authorities to establish the first-ever value management agreement,” recounts Biologix’s Zeina Sfeir Lahoud. “It was such a success that today it is being used by the Ministry of Health and Prevention as a benchmark in how to integrate some of more complex next generation biotherapies. At the time, it was one of the most sophisticated market access programs in entire MENA and took nearly two years fully implement,” she recalls.
Ever Deeper Footprints
A few years ago, there had been fears in some quarters that the UAE might eventually lose some of its lustre as other ambitious petrostates with deep pockets start to mimic their Emirati neighbours and provide comparable offerings. However, despite the sterner competition, investor enthusiasm for the UAE life science sector shows little sign of abating.
On the contrary, many companies have actually been scaling up their in-country Emirati offices to include additional capabilities and deepening their local footprints. For instance, a knock-on effect from the geopolitical instability and conflict in Eastern Europe has seen some well-known Western pharma companies, including Pfizer and Gilead, electing to manage their Russian business remotely from Dubai.
Others have been deepening their in-country presence as manifested by the flurry of recent activity going on at Dubai Science Park which now proudly houses over 400 life sciences entities and 4,000 industry professionals. “We witnessed the inauguration of two new R&D centres last year. The first one was opened at the beginning of 2022 for the Swiss company Firmenich, which specializes in vitamins and food supplements. The second opened its doors later that year for the Indian wellness group Himalaya, employing over 50 scientists and serving as the company’s global innovation hub,” details Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, senior vice president of the park, part of TECOM Group PJSC. “And the cherry on the cake is we will be imminently welcoming AstraZeneca to the park as well,” he clarifies.
Concurrently, Emirati policymakers seem to have been making a concerted effort to extend out the reach of the country’s influence as a regional pharma hub. “We believe in forging strong partnerships, not only on a regional level, but globally. And therefore, we have been very keen to restructure our regulations and policies to make sure that we are able to host international pharma companies and to be a base for them not only for the GCC countries, but also at the level of the greater region,” says Amin Alamiri.
“Back in 2015, we had just 23 international pharma companies with regional offices in the UAE covering 41 or 42 markets. Today, there are over 100 companies covering a much broader range of geographics. For example, Takeda right now covers 85 countries alone so the progress is tangible,” he argues.
Our strategic location allows us to connect with one-third of the world within a four-hour flight, reaching more than 3.2 billion people. This is in addition to possessing a thriving aviation sector, dense network of airports, seaports and globally recognized logistics nodes
Noura Al Ghaithi, Department of Health Abu Dhabi
This is supported by political developments, especially regarding trade agreements, and strategic investments being placed by state organs. For instance, the Emirates recently signed a free trade agreement with India with a view to trying to establish a conjugated pharmaceutical industry that could benefit the industry in both countries, while similar efforts have been underway to establish strategic bilateral linkages with Israel, a well-known innovation powerhouse in the life sciences space. More often than not, these trade deals have been underpinned by the ever-growing investment portfolios of sovereign wealth funds managed out of Abu Dhabi and the likes of funds like Mubadala (USD 287 billion in assets) and ADQ, formerly known as Abu Dhabi Development Holding Co (USD 159 billion in assets), are creating an investment momentum aimed at resonating across the region.
The UAE is, of course, buttressed in these endeavours by its important geostrategic location at the crossroads of Asia and Africa, coupled with an excellent existing transportation and logistics infrastructure that can easily be leveraged. Looking specifically at Abu Dhabi, Noura Al Ghaithi of DoH Abu Dhabi notes that “our city’s infrastructure is well suited to our ambitions to become a global hub for the healthcare and life sciences industries. Our strategic location allows us to connect with one-third of the world within a four-hour flight, reaching more than 3.2 billion people. This is in addition to possessing a thriving aviation sector, dense network of airports, seaports and globally recognized logistics nodes.”
In fact, such qualities already became apparent during the global pandemic when the UAE-based HOPE Consortium’s vaccine supply chain harnessed existing resources and capabilities including those of Etihad Cargo, KIZAD, Rafed and Maqta Gateway to successfully distribute over 100 million vaccine doses across 40 countries.
“The achievements of the HOPE Partnership, an emirate-wide consortium spearheaded by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health bringing together major companies to create an end-to-end solution to distribute COVID-19 vaccinations globally was an impressive demonstration of the UAE’s abilities,” believes PHRMAG’s Shahad Mahdi. And with plans already afoot to develop an origin-to-destination pharma air corridor between Abu Dhabi and Brussels airports, the potential clearly exists to expand well beyond just vaccine distribution and capture tomorrow’s life science opportunities.
Localization: from ‘Hosting’ to ‘Doing’
The UAE’s grand aspirations to be a global pharma hub of consequence, however, extend well beyond just becoming a distribution platform and critical node in international medical supply chains, and actually entail turning the country into a homegrown manufacturing and export powerhouse.
Essentially the UAE’s leaders no longer want their country merely to be seen as a base for receiving, trading, and re-exporting goods. They are instead keen to scale the value chain by complementing their already highly efficient existing logistics platform with greater emphasis on in-country value additions, one of which being the deliberate cultivation of in-country industrial base.
“The UAE is certainly moving swiftly on this front because, in the post-pandemic world, the Emirati government considers pharmaceuticals to be a national security issue,” explains Menarini’s Basel Thaher. “And just like many other countries, they view manufacturing localisation as a means to make their supply chains more resilient, and move away from a dependency on expensive imports,” he adds.
The country, which currently imports around 80 percent of its pharmaceutical products, thus plans to grow its pharmaceutical export market to about USD 297 million by 2025, up 15 percent from 2021. And while the existing industrial base remains slight, demonstrable progress is being made in building it up. According to the Dubai World Trade Centre, the number of manufacturing units in the UAE reached 24 in 2022, up from just four in 2010, including 16 for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products and 8 for the manufacture of medical devices and equipment.
Indeed, several international pharma firms have already heeded the call to establish in-country manufacturing capabilities. “Aspen has been localising many of its operations in the region for quite a while and now even here in the UAE with secondary packaging facilities,” reveals Daniel Vella Friggieri. “This approach is a key strategy for us as it drives accessibility into a market, and we also perceive a lot of positives from a profit and loss perspective,” he continues.
“Establishing an export platform geographically out of somewhere like Dubai makes a lot of sense from a business perspective, as you can move seamlessly around the region and for incoming products that are sourced around the world it is very accessible,” thinks Andrew Bird, interim CEO at Acino. “We have recently acquired a manufacturing facility in the UAE, where we produce products for local sales, and being GCC and EU GMP certified, will allow therapies to be exported to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Africa region,” he reveals.
Menarini too is keen to align with the UAE’s vision and is considering future local fabrication of some of its therapies. We think this could be a fantastic opportunity given the quality of facilities out here and the fact that this is being incentivised and supported by the authorities,” reckons Thaher.
Meanwhile many smaller entities, especially those active in the generics segment, are viewing a localization strategy as a smart way to establish a stronger foothold within the local marketplace. “Manufacturing our own products in-country rather than purely importing them allows us to be considered a local UAE company and gives us a few clear advantages,” explains Tarek Thaher, regional director for the GCC at MS Pharma. “Firstly, we can command better pricing. This is extremely important when dealing with the field of generics where the margins are so tight. Secondly, we are given fast-track registration, so from accepting, reviewing, and approving the products it can take around 12 to 18 months, an incredibly quick turnaround. Thirdly, there is a ruling here that being a local marketing authorization holder company, I can get a second brand from a local manufacturer brand, meaning you are getting their product under your own brand name. This allows us to grow our portfolio at a more rapid rate and at more competitive pricing,” he details.
Ossama Salah Ramadan, Gulf manager of the Saudi generics company Tabuk, for his part, has noticed the rising fortunes of in-country producers as the UAE’s life science market evolves. “Over the past decade, we have been witnessing the increasing prominence of local manufacturers within the domestic UAE market and some of those now rank among the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the entire country,” he observes.
At the same time, a wealth of state sponsored initiatives are being rolled out to support the localization process. In December 2021, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company joined forces with Group 42 to set up a biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in the UAE capital, while Dubai Science Park has been pulling out all the stops to attract the manufacturing of ‘super generics,’ and integrate fabrication capabilities in niche areas from nutraceuticals and 3D implants to blood plasma.
The best approach is not when every country tries to do everything by itself, but when they play to their strengths, specialize and collaborate
Patrick van der Loo, Pfizer
Not everyone believes that the strategy of cultivating a strong manufacturing base within the UAE is realistic, however. “The majority of countries are now asking for localization, but it is not easy for a company like ours to make such a decision, because we need to ensure that we deliver the same quality of product everywhere. To do this correctly, you need to maintain the cost and possess the scale of production, because some countries may not be big enough to accommodate the production size,” reflects Mohamed Galal, vice president and head of the Middle East country cluster at Bayer Consumer Health. “Our calculation is that Saudi Arabia and Egypt both have the critical mass to activate localization, for exporting to the rest of the Middle East so these are the locations we have been focusing our manufacturing efforts upon,” he adds.
Pfizer’s regional president Middle East, Russia and Africa, Patrick van der Loo very much concurs. “It is not feasible for every country to have all stages of the process, so we need to be very strategic and discerning about where we make these types of investments. The best approach is not when every country tries to do everything by itself, but when they play to their strengths, specialize and collaborate,” he thinks.
Ole Per Maloy, CEO for the Middle East and Southern and Eastern Africa at Siemens Healthineers, also mirrors this sentiment. “While we completely understand many countries wanting to establish manufacturing facilities locally, it is, not realistic in most instances since establishing a factory for medical equipment requires massive investment and huge production volumes able to deliver thousands of systems on a large scale. In my opinion, unless local production can offer something completely new, it may not be realistic to start establishing traditional factories here in the UAE,” he reasons.
“We need to work with governments to ensure that the mindset is shifted from thinking only about manufacturing when it comes to our sector, to an increased focus on R&D, for that is where the true value additions arise,” concludes PHRMA’s Samir Khalil.
Betting Big on Genomics
Embedding life science research locally forms a fundamental pillar of country’s strategic diversification and shift towards knowledge-based economic development. “The authorities out here are tremendously visionary, and we can see that by the way they’re seeking to reinvent and reimagine the style of the healthcare they provide their people,” remarks Gilead’s Vítor Papão. “There is also an obvious strategic goal behind that ambition and the UAE’s leaders are not looking just at providing better healthcare for the sake of it. There is clearly an aim to bring innovative thinking and state-of-the-art innovation and technology to the region and put the Middle East at the vanguard of innovation,” he insists.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the UAE’s ambitious attempt to be a trailblazer in genomics. The country was quick off the mark to recognise the issue of diversity in genomic data and, as a result, the Abu Dhabi Department of Health launched the Emirati Genome Programme, now the largest programme of its kind in the world. “This ground-breaking initiative seeks to provide citizens with their own high-quality genome as a baseline, and incorporate genetic data into health care management through the deployment of modern DNA sequencing techniques using machine learning and supercomputing,” explains Noura Al Ghaithi.
There are two things that we know will be part of the future of healthcare delivery, one is personalization, and the second will be the use of digital technology and, by positioning itself right at the forefront of these emerging trends, the UAE … is defining new care pathways
Jorge Guzman, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Last year, the Department of Health also launched the first Personalised Precision Medicine Programme for oncology in the region in collaboration with Mubadala Health, and a star-studded array of academic institutions and healthcare providers including the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, NYU Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence and Group 42 Healthcare. Deploying cutting-edge, artificial intelligence-based technologies, the first phase of the new programme strives to focus upon building best-in-class models of care to detect, diagnose and treat breast cancer patients, while lessening the risk or recurrence.
“There are two things that we know will be part of the future of healthcare delivery, one is personalization, and the second will be the use of digital technology and, by positioning itself right at the forefront of these emerging trends, the UAE, with the assistance of partners such as Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is defining new care pathways,” asserts Jorge Guzman, Cleveland’s CEO.
“Through the Emirati Genome Program, we already have 400,000 fully sequenced individuals in the UAE, with plans for every UAE national to have a full genome sequence within the next few months. This combination of data, support from the government, and advancements in knowledge should lead to a far better understanding of the conditions unique to this region’s population,” he enthuses.
Reimagining the Art of Healthcare
At the same time, the country has been taking definite steps to overhaul its healthcare system around the principles of outcome-driven care and private sector collaboration. Dubai’s so-called ‘EJADAH’ program represents a good illustration of the style of changes underway. “EJADAH has been a transformative step forward in terms of enhancing the quality of healthcare services in the emirate by focusing on patient-centred care, innovation, and efficiency. The system collects and analyses data using AI to provide insights into health trends, patient needs, and gaps in care pathways,” says DHIC’s Saleh Al Hashimi.
“Impact-wise, the framework encourages healthcare providers to improve their performance by providing incentives for achieving targets. Therefore, this places a responsibility on the providers to be efficient and fits into the model of a value-based healthcare system that focuses on achieving the best clinical outcomes at economic costs. This model thus mobilizes preventive care, patient-centric treatment, and the use of technology to lift quality, efficiency and sustainability,” he affirms.
“This is a clear indication that the UAE government is shifting its innovation acceptance model to be less about pricing and more about achieving specific outcomes. Doing so will unleash companies like Takeda to be much more than just purveyors of medicines, by enabling us to a play a proactive part in innovating new healthcare solutions, so this should make it an even stronger market for us,” reasons Rodrigo Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, the private sector share of healthcare spending has increased markedly as the number of public-private partnerships has proliferated. Back in 2019, government spending accounted for almost 69 percent of the country’s USD 16 billion in healthcare expenditure. However, between 2018 and 2022, private sector health care spending expanded at a 9.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), almost double the CAGR of the government’s contribution (4.4 percent).
The UAE government is shifting its innovation acceptance model to be less about pricing and more about achieving specific outcomes
Rodrigo Rodriguez, Takeda
“There is a growing trend of privatization across the Gulf region, with the UAE leading the way with the introduction of compulsory healthcare insurance and a growing volume of public-private partnerships,” points out Astellas’ Amr Seif. “While we don’t quite yet know what the endgame of this privatization push will look like, the early signs are promising. A prerequisite for successful healthcare privatization is, of course, digitalization, which the UAE has been prioritizing with great progress already made in digitizing health records and digitally connecting the entirety of the healthcare system as one joined-up whole.”
“As part of our ambitious strategy to future-proof global public health, we have partnered with key experts in research and industry to come up with breakthrough solutions across the entirety of the value chain and healthcare continuum,’ recounts the DHA’s Ibtesam Al Bastaki. “These PPPs are not limited just to healthcare provision and physical infrastructure but can equally involve integrated digital platforms for data and information transfer,” he insists.
“They have been investing deeply in science parks, genetic institutes, and other initiatives to foster and promote innovation in healthcare. This increasing presence of the private sector introduces a competitive framework where insurance companies and other private entities may engage in negotiations and innovative contracting arrangements with pharmaceutical companies. This approach will likely prioritize outcome-based financing rather than solely focusing on government-led pricing negotiations,” predicts Pfizer’s Patrick van der Loo.
Concurrently, Abu Dhabi has been diligently co-opting leading American healthcare, educational and industrial institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Honeywell, and New York University to reconsider and rationalize care pathways. “What we are engaged in here in the UAE is actually a remarkable journey: in some cases, we are spearheading treatments or procedures that have not been done even in the US or other parts of the world, such as bringing adaptive radiation therapy to our cancer patients,” exclaims Cleveland’s Jorge Guzman.
“Recently, we opened the Fatima bint Mubarak Center, a comprehensive state-of-the-art cancer centre, modelled after the Taussig Cancer Center in Cleveland Clinic in the US. The centre boasts of state-of-the-art technology including the only adaptive radiotherapy machine in the UAE. It is one of the first in the world that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to speed up radiation therapy while reducing exposure to radiation,” he details.
Budding Health Tourism Destination?
No surprise therefore that the UAE is becoming an increasingly strong candidate as a preferred destination of choice for health tourism. On a global scale, Dubai was rated sixth among 46 destinations – and the first among Arab nations – in the “Global Medical Tourism Index” issued by the International Health Care Research Center (IHRC), with Abu Dhabi claiming the ninth position.
Euromonitor International meanwhile forecasts that the UAE’s medical tourism revenues will have surpassed Dhs19bn by 2024, and that Medical Value Travelers (MVT) will increasingly seek healthcare services beyond just cosmetic surgeries and second opinions as the Emirates consolidates its reputation as a high-quality destination for cardiovascular and cancer treatment, dental, fertility and in-vitro fertilisation, orthopaedic and other elective surgeries.
“We actually registered a 43 percent rise in international patients during the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 with many of them seeking specific, complex care services, such as cancer treatment, and cardiac surgery with sophisticated and advanced treatment and procedures,” reinforces Jorge Guzman of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
“Our Centres of Excellence and the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Quality Index, known as Muashir, ensure that the care we provide is of exceptional quality, with the framework promoting sustainability, effectiveness of care, transparency, accountability, and enhancing patient experience. All healthcare facilities that join the medical tourism network are assessed for eligibility to ensure they meet the requirements of this framework,” explains the Abu Dhabi DoH’s Noura Al Ghaithi. “This means that our healthcare network can provide high quality services and unique medical offerings that distinguish it from other healthcare systems including heart surgeries, organ transplants, infertility treatments, joint surgeries, and medical check-ups, rather than just focusing on aesthetic procedures that other regions are known for,” she elaborates.
Other points of differentiation also stand out. For example, Dubai’s ease of protocols for international patients is incredible. From the point of making appointments via telehealth and digital medicine portals in any of the 34 private and seven public hospitals to arriving in the city, where visas are made available along with ticket bookings, the process is seamless.
“It’s also about paying attention to all the little important details of the patient experience,” thinks Guzman. “Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi provides plenty of hospitality space so that families can visit if their family member is receiving treatment for extended periods, for example in the case of cancer or transplantation, and we provide an alluring option for health tourists from other Middle East countries who would feel more comfortable interacting in Arabic and who might previously have had to go to the Unites States or Europe to receive comparable treatment outcomes.
Fragmentation Barriers
For all its business friendliness, regulatory enlightenment, and innovation intensity, there are however certain aspects of the UAE’s life science market that are still ripe for improvement. Many international onlookers, for instance, bemoan the lack of joined-up action and alignment both within the emirate itself and in relation to its neighbours.
“Sadly, the Middle East tends to be a rather individually disjointed, country-based system. If countries would only unite registry systems it could create more value to the healthcare community level,” reflects SOBI’s Ahmad Abu Dahab, who sees this state of affairs as lessening the potential impact of the UAEs highly acclaimed genomic program.
“I believe that together everyone would be far stronger, but unfortunately the Gulf region has never yet managed to properly integrate as a single market,” muses Samir Khalil. “We only need to look to Europe, where drug registration and IP are regulated on a continent-wide level. The Middle East, by contrast, is more fractured, with countries preferring to work independently rather in concert. A GCC Patent Office was established in Riyadh several years ago, providing important GCC-wide services on IP protection. However, this institution was abruptly stopped three years ago, and the countries instead pursued national approaches,” he recalls.
We need a less fragmented healthcare system, even if that means having a central authority to oversee everything
Entessar Al Hammadi, Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital;
“The region should definitely be prioritizing aligning regulations and adopting mutual recognition procedures. This would create a unified market model, enhancing competitiveness and facilitating the smooth flow of pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, collaborating with other countries and regional organizations can enhance scientific research, knowledge sharing, and capacity building,” argues Patrick van der Loo.
However even within the UAE itself there tends to be an unhelpful degree of decentralization and competing initiatives. “We need a less fragmented healthcare system, even if that means having a central authority to oversee everything,” believes Dr Entesar Al Hammadi, director of academic affairs and deputy medical director at Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital. “Having a higher central authority to look at everything would make things much easier; either in identifying the gaps or mapping the future. We are not a huge country, so if we had a big umbrella to oversee healthcare, we would actually do much better,” she affirms.
Siemens Healthineers’ Ole Per Maloy has perceived the same sort of barriers when it comes to the standardization of cancer treatments. “We’ve noticed that quality varies according to postcode because different emirates possess differing levels and styles of care. In the private sector we notice that many of the hospitals do not have comprehensive cancer care offering, for example, some perform diagnostic imaging or testing and basic treatment while another hospital performs radiotherapy. If they are to ever to achieves holistic care pathways from diagnosis to treatment and aftercare, then this is the first issue that must be addressed,” he insists.
Influencer Nation
How then is the UAE’s contemporary life science sector to be ultimately assessed? Most commentators consider it a fundamentally distinctive market with its very own unique spin and ambitions, but one which nonetheless serves as a bellwether and influencer for the rest of the region.
“As a relatively small country, with a high per capita income level and an administration that is an enthusiastic proponent of change and progress, this is definitely a place where you can test out new models and new ideas that in big markets with big populations and constrained budgets, might not be so feasible. The Emirati government is, itself very open to experimentation and trial and error, which I believe is the best way forward,” asserts Sukoon’s Insurance’s Jean-Louis Laurent Josi.
“The UAE’s role as a testing-ground and technological first-mover always focused on innovation means every market in across region follows intently what is happening here,” notes Biologix’s Zeina Sfeir Lahoud.
“Initiatives here are generally regarded as a reference point by neighbouring markets, and once a product has been launched here and proved successful, other countries across the region seek to follow the suit,” agrees Naim Hanna, general manager for the Middle East and Gulf at French skincare innovator, Pierre Fabre.
“This means that emirates like Dubai are not only the centre to sell, but also the centre to promote, which is evident in the level of investment in Dubai compared to sales,” opines Bayer’s Mohamed Galal. “Sometimes our objective is to invest here in the UAE so as to increase awareness of the brand, and to lay a strong foundational base for launch in other markets,” he admits.
However, what the UAE brings to international life sciences most of all is the willingness to move the needle and think audaciously. “They are the inspiration to others to grow, reinvent and develop without limit. If you can dream it, you can achieve it,” he concludes.
