Novartis and Abu Dhabi DoH launch Phase 3 clinical trials hub
The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) and Novartis have formally launched the Abu Dhabi Clinical Trials Hub, bringing the Swiss pharma giant's global Phase 3 programmes into the emirate across four therapeutic areas: neuroscience, cardiovascular disease, oncology and immunology. The announcement was made at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit 2026.
The milestone builds on a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two organisations in June 2024. Over the subsequent two years, the partnership focused on site readiness, investigator capability development and the regulatory groundwork needed to host international late-stage studies. Individual trials will still require feasibility assessments and ethics and institutional approvals before enrolment can begin.
The partnership in practice
Dr Asma Al Mannei, Executive Director of the Health Life Sciences Sector at DoH, said the activation "marks an important milestone in connecting Abu Dhabi's capabilities with international clinical research, creating new opportunities for local investigators to contribute to the development of innovative treatments and for eligible patients to participate in global clinical studies."
Mohamed Ezz Eldin, Head of Novartis GCC, framed the arrangement as a two-way exchange: connecting Abu Dhabi's research infrastructure to Novartis's global development pipeline while also supporting the training of the next generation of investigators in the Gulf region.
Operationally, the hub is designed to improve study start-up timelines, streamline patient identification and referral, and support real-world evidence generation alongside interventional research. The release does not specify how many studies are currently active or planned, nor does it disclose enrolment targets or timelines for individual trials.
Market context
The Gulf Cooperation Council has become an increasingly attractive destination for pharmaceutical companies seeking to diversify their clinical trial footprints beyond North America, Europe and East Asia. Factors driving this include relatively young and growing patient populations, high rates of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, and government-backed efforts to build out life sciences infrastructure.
Abu Dhabi has positioned itself as a regional leader in this push, with DoH having invested in regulatory capacity and research-site standards over the past several years. The Novartis partnership is one of the more significant pharma collaborations the emirate has announced, given the breadth of therapeutic areas covered and the late-stage nature of the programmes involved.
For Novartis, diversifying Phase 3 site networks carries operational advantages: broader geographic reach can support more representative trial populations and, in some indications, faster enrolment. The company reported reaching nearly 300 million patients worldwide with its medicines, and expanding its clinical footprint in the Middle East aligns with its stated aim of increasing access to innovative treatments in underserved geographies.
Observers will be watching for named studies and participating sites to be disclosed in the coming months, which will provide a clearer picture of the hub's initial scope and ambition.