Abu Dhabi Biobank and AstraZeneca forge transformative partnership to revolutionise predictive healthcare
A groundbreaking collaboration announced at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit will harness artificial intelligence, genomic data and clinical insights to advance disease prediction and rare disease research across populations historically underrepresented in global medical science.
Abu Dhabi Biobank, the strategic initiative established through a partnership between the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and M42, has embarked upon a significant collaboration with AstraZeneca to advance the frontiers of predictive healthcare. The partnership was unveiled during the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit 2026 and represents a convergence of biological samples, genomic sequencing, clinical data and cutting-edge artificial intelligence to enable the earlier detection of disease, accelerate rare disease research and strengthen precision healthcare for populations that have historically remained underrepresented in global biomedical research.
The collaboration addresses a critical gap in contemporary healthcare: whilst medical systems worldwide endeavour to develop more effective approaches to disease prediction, prevention and management, populations across the Middle East remain substantially underrepresented in the research that informs these innovations. This partnership positions Abu Dhabi as a vanguard of a transformative model for healthcare innovation, drawing upon the distinctive capabilities of Abu Dhabi Biobank, its genomic resources, integrated clinical data and artificial intelligence infrastructure to generate actionable insights, address evidence gaps and produce findings that authentically represent the populations they are designed to serve.
A cornerstone of this initiative is the advancement of rare disease research through the integration of genomic, clinical and phenotypic data. This approach addresses the persistent challenge of conditions that frequently remain undiagnosed for extended periods, creating opportunities for the earlier identification of individuals who may benefit from timely evaluation and therapeutic intervention. The partnership will additionally assess the applicability of MILTON, AstraZeneca’s sophisticated artificial intelligence-powered disease prediction platform, with particular emphasis on Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, both of which represent substantial and escalating health burdens across the globe and throughout the region. MILTON utilises routinely collected health data to identify patterns associated with future disease risk, facilitating opportunities for earlier intervention and proactive care strategies.
Abu Dhabi Biobank functions as a discovery engine for healthcare innovation, integrating more than five million biological samples, genomic information from the national Emirati Genome Program, longitudinal clinical records and population health data within a unified ecosystem. This integrated framework enables researchers to generate insights that isolated datasets cannot provide, creating a more comprehensive understanding of disease across the entire patient journey, from genetic predisposition through to clinical outcomes, and accelerating the translation of research findings into tangible real-world impact.
Dr Fahed Al Marzooqi, Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Health Solutions at M42, emphasised that healthcare is entering an era in which data can facilitate the identification of disease risk long before clinical manifestation occurs. The collaboration reflects a shared conviction that the future of healthcare will be determined by the capacity to predict, understand and respond to disease at earlier stages, moving beyond the treatment of established disease towards the anticipation and prevention of illness.
The partnership combines innovative approaches under a collective ambition to identify diseases earlier and predict future disease risk before symptoms emerge, reflecting the nation’s vision of longer, healthier lives enabled by an intelligent healthcare system that delivers preventive and personalised care at scale.
Source: WAM