The UAE has gathered the genetic data of more than 800,000 Emiratis under a nationwide drive to use precision medicine to combat disease before it strikes and protect the health of citizens for generations to come.
The Emirati Genome Programme – launched in Abu Dhabi in 2019 before being expanded across the Emirates – is making significant strides in its goal of cracking the genetic code of the Emirati population of about 1 million citizens as new partnerships are forged to help harness the vast data resources at the nation's disposal.
Samples can be given voluntarily at dozens of collection centres – primarily in hospitals and clinics – across all seven emirates. The information provided is strictly confidential and cannot be accessed without the consent of the participant.
The latest figures of 815,000 samples, announced at Abu Dhabi Global Health Week, mark a significant rise on the 600,000 which had been collected as of June last year.
The project is being led by Abu Dhabi's Department of Health with support with other health authorities and providers, including health technology company M42.
M42 has joined forces with leading biotech company Juvenescence to fast-track the discovery of precision drugs in a way that targets disease before symptoms appear.
Targeted health care
“What we’re pivoting towards is precision medicine, early detection and prevention, and that comes through the wealth of the data sets that we have,” Dr Fahed Al Marzooqi, chief executive of M42’s integrated health solutions platform and acting chief executive of M42’s AI life sciences platform, told The National.
He said the healthcare sector was traditionally “reactive”, intervening only after an individual falls sick or is diagnosed with an illness, but the data provided by the genome project opens doors to a new era of health care.
“[The data] gives us a wealth of information about you as a person, about your clinical journals,” he said. “So imagine a scenario where you have a newborn, which means that you detect the disease, sometimes even before it develops. So this gives us an idea about prediction, about prevention, and we can precisely talk about precision. Part of the definition of precision medicine is delivering the correct drugs.
“M42 strategically investing in Juvenescence, a global leader in the domain of cutting-edge AI and biotechnology, means they can analyse insights from the data and hopefully find the targets needed, but then from that, we’ll discover a product.”
Exploring root causes of disease
Genome sequencing can help diagnose conditions caused by changes in the DNA.
It is hoped that cancers and other inherited diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia could be controlled thanks to such medical advances.
Hereditary cancer accounts for about 10 per cent of cases of the disease worldwide.
Hereditary breast and ovarian cancers originate from specific gene mutations called BRCA1 and/or BRCA2. A simple test can show if a woman carries these genes.
The risk of inheriting a gene mutation increases in the case of consanguineous marriages, which is where second cousins, or closer, marry.
The Emirates Genome Council – established in 2021 – studied 50,000 genetic samples from Emiratis and found more than five million novel gene variants.
Journey of discovery
The M42 partnership is part of a broader push mission to make Abu Dhabi a life sciences innovation hub.
However, creating a new drug takes time and deep co-ordination between sectors.
“Drug discovery is a long journey,” Dr Al Marzooqi said. “Conventionally, it demands roughly anywhere from 15 to 25 years where you discover, let’s say, the chemical agents that you interact with different proteins in your body. After that, you have a pre-clinical stage.
“Then from that, you have the human stage, where you conduct phase one, phase two, obviously and when you complete the trials to make sure that the drug that you will use tomorrow is safe first and doesn’t have any and actually treats what it takes to be treated.
“So companies, biotechs, with the use of AI can accelerate that journey, to shrink that journey down.
“We are in the first stages now, where we have the curated data sets, and now we will start to embark on a journey with the Department of Health to analyse the data, identifying the targets, identifying the lead and then, as I explained, the journey goes.”
Hasan Jasem Al Nowais, managing director and group chief executive at M42, said: “With this investment and partnership, M42 is taking great strides in reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s push as a global nexus for AI-enabled therapeutics and biomedical innovation to tackle local and international health challenges. With Juvenescence, we are unlocking the potential of AI to transform the way we discover and deliver drugs, bringing innovative, life-changing therapies to patients worldwide.
“This is not just about innovation, it’s about impact – on lives, on science and on the future of health.”
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