Abu Dhabi:Burjeel Holdings has entered into a partnership with Avatrial, a UK-based biotechnology firm, to create an innovative AI-powered cancer drug discovery ecosystem in Abu Dhabi. This initiative marks a significant step in integrating artificial intelligence with cancer research to advance drug discovery and development.
According to Emirates News Agency, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit. The signing ceremony was attended by Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman and CEO of Burjeel Holdings, with Prof. Khaled Musallam, Group Chief Research Officer at Burjeel Holdings, and Prof. Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Founder and CEO of Avatrial, formalizing the agreement.
This collaboration aims to merge Burjeel Holdings' clinical expertise and research infrastructure with Avatrial's AI-driven biotechnology platform. The proposed model will leverage patient insights to identify promising treatments and potentially advance them to clinical trials. This initiative is part of Burjeel 2.0, the group's strategy to enhance complex care and integrate AI across its healthcare operations.
The ecosystem will combine clinical data, molecular analysis, and experimental research to explore cancer biology and discover potential treatments. By using AI-assisted molecular profiling, researchers hope to identify new therapeutic targets, while patient-derived models will validate drug candidates.
The partnership will also examine the feasibility of integrating clinical samples, molecular profiling, AI analysis, and experimental validation. Initial efforts will focus on selected solid tumors, with the potential to expand into other therapeutic areas such as rare diseases.
Prof. Khaled Musallam emphasized the ambition to contribute actively to the discovery and development of new therapies, while Prof. Kourosh Saeb-Parsy highlighted the goal of streamlining the drug discovery process to develop better therapies.
This collaboration not only aims to strengthen Abu Dhabi's position as a global hub for biotechnology innovation but also fosters scientific cooperation between the UAE and the UK.
