Abu Dhabi has formally launched a dedicated cluster focused on health, endurance, longevity and medicine that is projected to create 30,000 new jobs by 2045.
Helm, standing for Health, Endurance, Longevity, and Medicine, is the new name for an economic cluster of life science facilities in Abu Dhabi's Masdar City, it was announced during Abu Dhabi Global Health Week.
Spearheaded by the Department of Health, the Department of Economic Development, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio), the initiative brings together infrastructure, regulation and funding in the hope it can accelerate the development of drugs and vaccines. With the creation of jobs, it is also hoped it will contribute significantly to Abu Dhabi’s economic growth and diversification.
“Our niche is clear: we are focused on longevity, wellness, and better health outcomes. At its core, the cluster will enable advancements in genomic medicine, AI-powered diagnostics, and advanced therapies,” Fatma Al Mulla, the head of Helm at Abu Dhabi Investment Office, said. “What makes this cluster special is that we don’t work in isolation.“
Years of hard work pay off
Masdar’s life sciences cluster first began to take shape in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when much of the research and development for the Chinese Sars-CoV-2 vaccine was carried out on-site. This early momentum catalysed the arrival of other central players. The launch of Helm formalises that progress.
“All of us need each other. We’re not competing here; Masdar provides the physical infrastructure, Adio brings the incentives and funding, and the Department of Health offers regulatory guidance,” said Marwan Mohamed, assistant business development manager at Masdar City. “Together, we can bring a therapy, medical device, or drug from idea to patient.
Today, Masdar City’s life sciences cluster includes around 50 companies, among them InSilico Medicine, Hayat Therapeutics, Reparex Labs and Attentive Sciences. It is also home to major initiatives like M42 and the Emirati Genome Programme, which has sequenced nearly 900,000 Emiratis.
“The life sciences cluster is basically all the components needed to bring a drug from research all the way to market,” Mr Mohamed said. “That includes manufacturing, translational research, and the supply chain. Together, they make the full value chain.”
A more streamlined process
With the new agreement in place, the process of entering Abu Dhabi’s life sciences ecosystem is now more streamlined. “Let’s say a company lands at the airport. They talk to Adio for funding, then come to Masdar City for a free zone licence and lab space, and then to the Department of Health for regulatory approvals and clinical trial guidance,” Mr Mohamed said. “Now, that process will be much more cohesive.
“We’re going to see way more clinical trials, and far more therapies that don’t get stuck in what we call ‘the valley’ – the gap between scientific discovery and market delivery,” he added. “In life sciences, researchers often struggle to bring innovation to market. That’s where we, the cluster, come in. We help them cross that gap.”
An example is a biotech company based in the US which announced the launch of Abu Dhabi’s first regulated preclinical laboratory this week. Tareq Abu-Nadi, chief executive and co-founder of Attentive Sciences, said the firm is setting up the region’s first fully regulated preclinical lab and incubator at Helm.
Attentive Sciences is a global contract research organisation (CRO) that works with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to help bring new drugs to life, from early discovery through to clinical trials.
“We help our clients, biotech, pharma companies, develop novel ideas and novel drugs, from lead optimisation and early R&D all the way to clinical trials,” said Mr Abu-Nadi. Abu Dhabi is home to what will become its largest location.
Other Helm partners include the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Centre, and New York University Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi Global Health Week – in pictures
