UAE genomics and AI push puts Middle East precision medicine on 10-12% growth path
A study by a healthcare exhibition organiser and Frost & Sullivan projects double-digit annual growth for precision medicine in the region, backed by genomics, AI and local manufacturing.
The UAE is putting money into genomics, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing in an effort to change how medicines are found, tested and produced across the Middle East. The bet is already visible in forecasts: precision medicine in the region is expected to expand by 10% to 12% a year over the next five to seven years, a double-digit pace that tracks what developed markets are seeing.
Those numbers come from a study of the technologies reshaping biopharma worldwide, assembled by a healthcare exhibition organiser with Frost & Sullivan. Its authors describe a regional ecosystem that is becoming more connected, with genomics, next-generation therapies, AI-assisted drug development and local manufacturing feeding into one another rather than sitting in separate silos.
Genomics as the base layer
Two programmes underpin much of the UAE's work. The Emirati Genome Program is working toward one million genetic samples collected nationwide. Separately, the UAE Reference Genome study is analysing more than 50,000 genome samples and building infrastructure meant to serve disease prevention, precision treatments and healthcare research.
In Abu Dhabi, the Health, Endurance, Longevity and Medicine cluster is the most visible piece of industrial policy. It is projected to draw more than AED42 billion ($11.5 billion) in investment by 2045, add more than AED94 billion ($25.6 billion) to the emirate's GDP and create roughly 30,000 jobs. The cluster spans biotechnology, pharmaceutical manufacturing, genomics and AI — a spread that reflects the government's wish to hold capabilities across the whole biopharma value chain, not just one link of it.
Solenne Singer, senior vice president of healthcare at inD, said biopharma has become “such an important part of the healthcare growth story” in the UAE and the wider region. She argued the country is assembling many of the capabilities needed to compete in the industry's next phase. “Discovery is only one part of the equation,” she said, adding that turning molecules into scaled-up medicines requires manufacturers, technology companies, investors, regulators, providers and commercial partners to work together.
such an important part of the healthcare growth story
Manufacturing moves local
Localisation has become a strategic priority rather than a slogan. Mubadala Bio launched in 2025 to strengthen domestic manufacturing and pharmaceutical logistics. In Saudi Arabia, Lifera's agreement with Novo Nordisk is exploring local production of advanced GLP-1 treatments for diabetes and obesity.
AI sits at the centre of the shift. Frost & Sullivan counts more than 40 AI-discovered drugs that have entered clinical trials globally, and the technology is now woven into research and development: finding candidates faster, designing leaner trials, tightening production. The UAE has its own examples. In 2025, Insilico Medicine's Abu Dhabi centre nominated the country's first fully AI-discovered preclinical candidates, for oncology and non-opioid pain, completing that discovery work in under 12 months. A June 2026 partnership between the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and Boehringer Ingelheim aims to use the emirate's genomics infrastructure to push precision-medicine research forward.
Frost & Sullivan expects wider local patient databases to open opportunities in regional disease modelling and drug discovery over the next 10 to 15 years.
The commercial backdrop is modest in global terms. The Middle East and Africa pharmaceutical market was valued at $58.66 billion in 2025, or 3.6% of the worldwide total. The study points to healthcare reforms and national strategies on biotechnology, AI, digital infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing as the main growth drivers.
Aarti Chitale of Frost & Sullivan said the industry is moving toward a connected model in which precision medicine, AI and advanced manufacturing reinforce one another. The Middle East, and the UAE in particular, is already building foundations for that transition through genomics, digital infrastructure, localisation and global partnerships, she said. She called double-digit precision-medicine growth significant precisely because larger local genomic and patient datasets let countries develop their own research capabilities, therapies and disease models.
The harder question is timing. A genomics programme without trial infrastructure produces research papers, and a factory without local clinical capacity produces fill-and-finish work. The 10-12% forecast assumes data, manufacturing and clinical capacity arrive together, which is why the cluster model matters more than any single project inside it.
The next phase will be on show in Dubai. A January 2027 exhibition will add a Pharma Zone alongside its Biotech Zone and Longevity and Wellness Zone, connecting manufacturers, contract development and manufacturing organisations, suppliers, distributors, technology providers and commercial partners around development, production and market access. The event runs 25-28 January 2027 at Dubai Exhibition Centre at Expo City Dubai and Dubai World Trade Centre, and organisers expect more than 90,000 attendees, 4,200 exhibitors and representatives from over 195 countries. It forms part of World Healthcare Week, which bundles healthcare trade, technology and leadership events into a single programme.
