AstraZeneca and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi team up for $50 million clinical trials action plan

AstraZeneca and the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi have formed a $50 million partnership to conduct numerous clinical trials across the emirate, with a focus on cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. Iskra Reic, an international executive vice president for AstraZeneca, revealed that the first trials are expected to commence by the end of the year.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the UAE, accounting for 34 percent of all fatalities, which emphasizes the necessity to enhance medical care. This initiative, supported by Abu Dhabi's Department of Health, aims to benefit patients and the wider medical community by providing additional patients for global clinical trials and enhancing data collection relevant to the local population and healthcare system.

AstraZeneca also announced a global collaboration with Oracle to explore early diagnosis, clinical-trial recruitment and safety monitoring for hypertension using AI and real-world data. By leveraging available data and harnessing AI, the goal is to identify diseases more quickly and enable earlier intervention to improve patient care.

Reic highlighted the UAE as an ideal partner due to its robust data collection, research network, and the government's commitment to strengthening the health sector. The pharmaceutical industry is evolving to incorporate AI, health data, and other technologies, as the focus is shifting from merely developing and delivering medicine to transforming patient care throughout the patient pathway, emphasizing early intervention and prevention.