The Middle East’s first Precision Medicine Exhibition & Summit, co-located with EMERGE Gulf Health Innovation forum, opened yesterday with a two-day run at the Conrad Hotel Dubai, with thought leaders and medical pioneers from Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the USA coming together to unearth new opportunities in the digital technology driven precision medicine (PM) field.
The event is held under the patronage of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and President of UAE Genetic Diseases Association.
Over 100 global biotech and health-tech entrepreneurs are heading to Dubai to drum up investment for their ground-breaking startups, which they believe will lower medicare costs, cut hospitalisation demand, reduce patient burden, and improve quality of life.
Meanwhile, EMERGE GHI is bringing together healthcare innovators and investors in over 300 hours of networking opportunities and help dynamic entrepreneurs access a high concentration of capital and knowledge from global success-makers including representatives of some of the region’s biggest names including, Plug & Play, Hikma Ventures and the Kuwait Life Sciences Company.
The event comes as the global startup and venture capital intelligence platform Dealroom.co, identifies health-tech as the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) highest growth vertical by combined enterprise value since 2016 making the Dubai event a right forum at the right time.
"The health-tech startup ecosystem in the MENA region is now worth over US$1.5 billion, which is a 22-fold increase since 2016,"
explained David Stradling, Event Director.
"Healthtech startups in the region are taking off, with more than US$200 million in venture capital funding received since 2016. Annual investments in healthcare digital infrastructure in the GCC alone are expected to increase from US$0.5 billion to US$1.2 billion in the next two years, a 10 percent to 20 percent rise compared with the previous years of 3 percent to 4 percent.
"Over the next ten years, virtual care, remote patient monitoring, and artificial intelligence will account for 30 percent of hospital investments in the region. Much of this activity will be driven by private players. This is a significant opportunity for startups as it is necessary to incorporate digital solutions in hospitals to optimise outcome and workforce.
"With the emergence of the pandemic accelerating the pace of innovation, there has never been a greater sense of urgency and need for a new platform to drive healthcare progress. Domestic and foreign investors are striving hard to push health-tech in the MENA region, raising US$930 million in dedicated funds since 2020 and this is just the start. EMERGE GHI will lead the way in bridging this future healthcare need."
With dynamic innovators from across the world making the trip to Dubai, EMERGE GHI will provide participants with deep insights into the future of healthcare. The USA’s BioSapien Inc. aims to seek partners for its 3D-printed biodegradable implantable mesh intended to deliver FDA-approved drugs directly to cancerous cells with the aim of reducing harmful side-effects and costs. CEO and Founder Khatija Ali believes the UAE holds out partner opportunities for biotech breakthroughs and expects its MediChip to resonate with investors.
"The current treatment modalities for cancer do not match the capabilities of today’s technologies. There is a need to rethink how we deliver cancer care, and potentially other drugs. We are starting with local chemotherapy, in a manner that prevents dose-limiting toxicities. This is no small task, and we want to find big thinkers who see this bigger picture. Ultimately, we are looking for funding commitments for a successful Series A launch that will help bring our technology one step closer to patients,"
said Ali.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
