The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) has partnered with M42 in order to launch the Abu Dhabi Biobank, with its first offering being the region’s largest hybrid cord blood bank.
The new initiative aims to shorten waiting times for treatment, increase therapeutic access for patients, improve survival rates, and reduce the economic burden on governments.
The Abu Dhabi Biobank is part of the emirate’s vision of building a unique global biobanking hub delivering invaluable data assets for maximal impact on people’s health. The service will be introduced across four leading healthcare entities committed to maternal and child health across Abu Dhabi.
Further, it will be a key pillar of health transformation and aims to deliver excellence by creating a diverse, foundational, bio-asset that supports therapeutic treatments, life science research for medical innovation, novel drug discovery targets, and disease prevention to deliver the highest level of personalized, precise, and preventative healthcare for all.
Dr. Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi Undersecretary Abu Dhabi DoH
“The wealth of biological and medical data amassed by the Biobank will catalyze scientific breakthroughs, expediting drug discovery, thus contributing to the Emirate’s ability to find solutions for local and global health challenges. It will significantly impact clinical care and patient outcomes, emphasizing cord-derived stem cell therapies and enabling local stem cell therapy delivery. The Abu Dhabi Biobank’s ability to link cord blood, tissue, stem cells, and a wide range of normal and pathological human specimens with established large genomic, proteomics, and clinical records sets the scene for transformative and cutting-edge initiatives.”
Abu Dhabi Biobank’s cord blood bank facility, situated in M42’s Omics Centre of Excellence, is equipped with state-of-the-art automated technology and the best large-capacity biobanking infrastructure. This infrastructure will preserve samples safely and securely, thereby making them viable for research and therapeutic use for 30 years.
Ashish Koshy, Group Chief Operating Officer of M42, said that, “The Abu Dhabi Biobank will foster global innovation in therapy development, as it holds huge potential for regenerative medicine, aiding in rare disease treatment, genetic screening, early detection, and scientific research. We’re proud to partner with DoH on this initiative, and we look forward to collaborating with them and other healthcare providers to drive progress in health and reinforce Abu Dhabi’s position as a global life science hub.”
