Department Of Health - Abu Dhabi Partners With Pfizer To Advance Research In Sickle Cell Disease And Beyond

The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pfizer Gulf FZ LLC, a global pharmaceutical company, during the BIO 2024 International Convention. This agreement aims to enhance Abu Dhabi’s position as a leading global hub for healthcare, life sciences, and innovation.

Leveraging the Emirate’s unique capabilities and Pfizer’s global expertise, the collaboration seeks to advance research through the generation and analysis of real-world data (RWD). Initially, the focus will be on Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), with plans to expand to other disease areas. SCD is a significant public health concern in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, with prevalence rates ranging from 0.24% to 5.8%.

SCD can lead to pain throughout the body and serious damage to organs such as the heart and kidneys. The disease often disrupts daily life, affects patients’ ability to work, and substantially impairs their health-related quality of life. The MoU was signed by Dr. Asma Al Mannaei, Executive Director of the Research and Innovation Centre at DoH, and Serhat Yalcinkaya, Pfizer’s Gulf Cluster Lead.

Dr. Asma Ibrahim Al Mannaei stated, "The collaboration between DoH and Pfizer represents a significant step towards harnessing real-world data in the region and better understanding patient populations from the vast available data in Abu Dhabi." She added that this partnership aims to drive advancements in healthcare prediction, prevention, personalised treatment, and access.

The two entities will work together to advance Abu Dhabi’s RWD capabilities by promoting global knowledge exchange and education of scientific ideas. Excellence in healthcare service delivery remains a priority for DoH as it strives to enhance care quality through specialised and personalised services aligned with international standards.

The agreement will focus on upskilling the local healthcare workforce on RWD by establishing a dynamic partnership model. This model will promote education and awareness on real-world evidence (RWE) generation, collection, and analysis to address unmet patient needs.

Dr. Asma Ibrahim Al Mannaei continued, "Under our wise leadership's directives, our Emirate continues to support collaborative research and innovation in our mission to establish Abu Dhabi as a hub for health and life sciences." She emphasised that real-world data offers unique potential to unlock actionable healthcare insights not typically garnered from traditional clinical trials.

Pfizer's Commitment

Serhat Yalcinkaya commented, "It is a significant moment for Pfizer Gulf as we sign this MoU with DoH. This collaboration is a strategic step towards enhancing healthcare innovation in the Gulf region." He noted that through this MoU, Pfizer is committed to leveraging RWD initially focusing on SCD and exploring further into other disease areas.

Yalcinkaya added that this partnership aims to improve patient outcomes and transform Abu Dhabi into a global hub for life sciences. He expressed pride in partnering with DoH and looked forward to the positive impact their joint efforts would bring to communities.

Showcasing Abu Dhabi's Capabilities

Led by DoH, a high-profile Abu Dhabi delegation is visiting the United States from 29 May 2024 to 7 June 2024. The delegation will showcase the Emirate’s diversified capabilities including its world-class infrastructure, intelligent healthcare system, genome oasis, and best-in-class science, technology, and talent supporting research, development, and clinical trials.

The mission will culminate in San Diego during DoH’s participation at BIO International Convention 2024. This event will exhibit Abu Dhabi’s full potential as a hub for next-generation health and life science innovation.

With inputs from WAM