Leadership highlights partnerships, regulatory collaboration and UAE localisation at Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit 2026
Abu Dhabi, UAE: Arcera Life Sciences has set out its long-term strategy to combine medical innovation with the regulatory, manufacturing and commercial reach needed to deliver it to patients, after uniting five businesses under a single strategy and operating model over the past two years.
Arcera’s next phase rests on three priorities: innovation, patient reach and capability. The company is building a differentiated portfolio in neuroscience and cardiometabolic care, with growing focus on rare diseases and oncology, supported by long-term partnerships with Fosun Pharma, Daewoong and AriBio. It is also strengthening its manufacturing, regulatory, medical and digital and AI capabilities, and investing in talent.
“Ultimately, our strategy is about combining innovation with the capabilities and reach needed to translate it into meaningful outcomes for patients,” said Isabel Afonso, Chief Executive Officer, Arcera Life Sciences.
Afonso highlighted Abu Dhabi’s progressive regulation, healthcare infrastructure, digital capabilities, talent and investment, and its connectivity between Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Arcera is already linking Asian innovation to patients, including its partnership with South Korea’s AriBio on an investigational Alzheimer’s therapy and its long-term collaboration with Fosun Pharma in China.
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Sunil Bhilotra, Chief Investment Officer, Arcera Life Sciences, said the company looks for credible partners with differentiated medicines in its focus areas, ideally first-in-class or best-in-class therapies. “Quality is non-negotiable,” he said, noting that every asset undergoes rigorous scientific, clinical and regulatory due diligence, and Arcera’s manufacturing and quality network across eight countries operates to international standards.
Building confidence in medicines originating from China or Korea, Afonso said, starts with evidence, early engagement with regulators and evidence-led dialogue with physicians. “Trust in a medicine should be determined by the quality of its science, clinical evidence, manufacturing and patient outcomes, rather than where the medicine was originally discovered,” she said.
Arcera serves patients in more than 100 markets, directly and through partners, with a portfolio of more than 2,000 medicines. Bhilotra said many Asian innovators do not have regulatory, commercial and market access capabilities across these markets, and Arcera provides a one-stop route to reach them. Its Daewoong partnership began in Latin America and delivered an approval in Mexico, and has since expanded into the Middle East, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Arcera also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with M42 to explore how genomic insights could support clinical development and next-generation therapies, including cell and gene therapies. Bhilotra described the collaboration to be at an early stage but the long-term opportunity to build advanced scientific and clinical capabilities locally is significant.
Afonso said greater regulatory reliance and alignment across MENA could shorten the time between scientific innovation and patient access, without compromising quality, safety or efficacy. “For patients with serious diseases and limited treatment options, time matters,” she said. Access, she added must be considered from the outset, with health authorities, so new medicines are both accessible to patients and sustainable for healthcare systems.
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Bhilotra said the UAE plays an increasingly important role in Arcera’s future, with localisation evolving toward more complex, innovative products and stronger supply chain resilience. “Localisation is not simply about producing medicines locally. It is about building capability,” he said.
Looking ahead to 2030, Afonso said success would mean reaching many more patients and seeing Abu Dhabi recognized as a global life sciences hub, that develops capabilities and advances science, with Arcera contributing meaningfully to both. Bhilotra added that success would be measured by the lasting value created with healthcare professionals, regulators and partners.
