Abu Dhabi is setting up a two-year research programme with Isomorphic Labs to explore how artificial intelligence could support the early stages of discovering new medicines.
The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and Isomorphic Labs signed a 24-month agreement on 21 October at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit. It sets out a pre-clinical research roadmap for selected AI-enabled discovery projects, with work planned inside Abu Dhabi’s Trusted Research Environment, according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office.
Pre-clinical research takes place before a potential treatment is tested in human trials. The agreement establishes a framework for research; it does not mean a new medicine has been developed or approved.
Why the partnership matters
The collaboration brings Isomorphic Labs’ AI drug-design expertise together with Abu Dhabi’s health and genomic research infrastructure. The emirate says the work aims to strengthen the evidence available for future medicines, including for Middle Eastern populations that have been underrepresented in genomic data used in drug discovery.
For Abu Dhabi, the agreement is another step in building a life-sciences sector around research, data and healthcare. The two-year roadmap gives the partners a structure for exploring early-stage projects locally. Any wider commercial or clinical impact will depend on what the research finds.
The announcement did not name specific diseases, treatments or commercial milestones. The next development to watch is how the selected projects progress through the pre-clinical research programme.
