Cardiac disease and diabetes mellitus are widespread in the Middle East and Africa. The health, wellness and well-being of the patients with those conditions are influenced by early diagnosis, prevention and optimal treatment.

Timely diagnosis allows for early intervention and treatment, which can significantly improve outcomes. Detecting diseases in the early stages provides an opportunity to implement appropriate medical interventions, lifestyle modifications, and preventive measures before the condition progresses to a life-threatening stage. Early diagnosis can enable medical professionals to develop targeted treatment plans, potentially leading to higher success rates and better long-term prognosis.

While battling the number one cause of death worldwide with cardiovascular disease testing, Beckman Coulter’s comprehensive cardiac lab tests include Access BNP, Access hsTnI, CK-MB and Myoglobin that can support care for patients before and after adverse cardiac events.

On the other hand, the diabetes menu of assays aids in the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus for the monitoring of long-term blood glucose control in individuals with diabetes mellitus and for identifying patients who may be at risk of developing this condition.

In an upcoming webinar titled ‘Diagnose to prevent life-threatening diseases and enjoy a healthy lifestyle’, Omnia Health will explore how these diagnostic solutions can help clinicians identify optimal treatment protocols and help support patient care.

The speakers will include Dr. Mazen Shaheen, Head of Cardiovascular Division CMC Hospital, Dubai, and Grace Estephan, Marketing Communications Manager at Beckman Coulter, who will moderate the event.

The objectives of this webinar would be to underline the need for a comprehensive testing panel for cardiac diseases, the importance of early and comprehensive screening of diabetes mellitus, and the impact of optimal diagnosis on clinicians’ treatment approaches, patients’ quality of life and healthcare systems.

The webinar will take place on July 26 at 2:30 pm GST. To learn more or to register, click here.

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Across all medical institutions, healthcare providers work with large amounts of data on a day-to-day basis that include patient history records, medical research, clinical and financial information. Maintaining this data becomes extremely crucial as it plays a major role in better clinical decision-making and managing healthcare related costs.  

However, with the significant amount of data being generated by these organisations, the challenge lies in trying to meticulously manage this information to ensure optimal data security and accuracy.  

Data governance in healthcare must be built to address technical and organisational challenges and should be designed to include a well-defined range of policies and procedures to effectively collect, store, analyse and process the data. It facilitates the sharing and exchange of healthcare data between different systems, organisations, and healthcare professionals. It establishes guidelines for data formatting, standard terminologies, and data integration protocols, enabling seamless interoperability. Effective data governance promotes efficient care coordination, reduces medical errors, and supports the continuity of patient care across different healthcare settings. 

Related: Unlock the power of data in health research with early quality control

Additionally, besides effective data management and analytics, a solid data governance framework helps ensure that relevant and accurate data is available to support decision-making processes, performance monitoring and various quality improvement initiatives. Reliable data assists healthcare organisations in identifying trends, seamlessly measuring outcomes and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and devise solutions accordingly.  

In February, 2019, the President of the UAE issued Federal Law No 2 of 2019 (Health Data Law) which regulates the use of information technology and communications (ITC) in the healthcare sector. The law allows the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention to collect, analyse and maintain health information at state level in the UAE and applies to all entities operating in the UAE, including the free zones. A report by global consultancy, PwC outlines some of the key components of this law, a major one being that the law will prohibit transferring health data outside the UAE unless authorised by the relevant health authority in coordination with the government ministry (Article 13). Aligning with international data protection standards and best practices, the Health Data Law requires entities to also introduce technical, operational and organisational procedures to ensure the integrity and security of the data.

Related:  Data-driven future of healthcare

Overall, healthcare data is definitely a strategic asset that has its immense value but also comes with its fair share of risks. Considering its impact on the business, data definitions and standards must be developed and maintained using an organisation-wide approach. 

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The healthcare system in the MENA region is constantly undergoing technology-driven transformations that have significantly helped optimise services and devise smarter and more efficient solutions for patients. While scientific and technological innovations in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), data science, and machine learning have enabled healthcare providers to provide accurate clinical outcomes, the adoption of cloud-based technologies to simplify operations have rapidly gained prominence in the healthcare industry, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.  

These digital technologies involve the integration of cloud computing technologies and services to store, manage and process healthcare-related data and applications. These technologies present several advantages to healthcare providers including improved accessibility, scalability, cost-effectiveness, and data security. The global cloud computing market for the healthcare industry is expected to reach US$25.54 billion by 2024, with several organisations increasingly using similar strategies to enhance productivity. 

The application of cloud-based solutions has resulted in better collaboration across departments and created opportunities for seamless remote healthcare support between providers and patients, allowing the former to share feedback on complex medical cases, and facilitate virtual services and monitoring. By implementing a cloud strategy, organisations ensure better data protection and recovery options, eliminating the risk of losing valuable data. 

Related: AI-driven precision medicine boosts higher success rates in cancer patients

Several healthcare organisations in the region have implemented cloud-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems to enable healthcare providers to access patient data in real-time, learn about any pre-existing health conductions and design treatment plans accordingly. The UAE’s Medcare Hospitals, Emirates Hospitals Group and Mediclinic are among the many healthcare providers to have implemented a unified healthcare information system (HIS) to ensure patient engagement and satisfaction.  

The system called ‘TrakCare’ provides clinical, administrative, and financial information of each patient in a single electronic patient record, assisting medical staff in their decision-making whilst ensuring seamless delivery of patient expectations. The system also enables staff to better streamline care processes, avoid duplication of tests, expedite billing, and allocate available resources effectively. 

Introduction of blockchain in healthcare IT infrastructure can also help achieve better data security, streamline claims and billing processes and maintain integrity within the drug supply chain and health related research.  

Healthcare providers can process and analyse large volumes of health data, using cloud-based analytics platforms. This includes clinical data, patient records and population health data that could help identify trends, improve decision-making, and optimise healthcare delivery.  

Related: How mRNA technology can transform medicine in the Middle East

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) launched ‘Riayati’, a digital healthcare platform for the National Unified Medical Record (NUMR) that creates an innovative and integrated central digital medical record system. This displays clinical data and up-to-date unified medical records aimed to provide quality services to patients.  

Ahmed AlDashti, Assistant Undersecretary of Support Services at the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, said: “The Riayati programme provides a platform for Health Information Exchange (HIE), which will connect public and private hospitals. The programme is already linked to Dubai Health Authority through the NABIDH project, and to the Emirates Health Services through the e-Health Information System, Wareed.”  

He further added that the platform is also linked to the Department of Health — Abu Dhabi through the Malaffi project, ensuring the completion of a unified, integrated, digital, and centralised national medical record for the healthcare system. 

As cloud-based digital solutions gain momentum in the industry, the introduction of related innovative technologies creates better possibilities for patient care, data management, and efficiency within the healthcare system. 

 

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The healthcare industries in Kenya and Nigeria are at a pivotal point in their development, which is very exciting. The healthcare segment in Nigeria is projected to grow by 7.10 per cent (2023-2027) resulting in a market volume of US$161.70 million in 2027 while in Kenya, it is projected to grow by 10.26 per cent (2023-2027) resulting in a market volume of US$29.31 million in 2027. 

These nations are aiming to develop healthcare systems that are easily accessible, reasonably priced, and of high quality through strategic investments, technological improvements, regulatory reforms, and a focus on preventive treatment. Nigeria and Kenya are well-positioned to improve the lives of their populations and create strong healthcare systems that can serve as models for other regions by seizing the opportunities presented by these transitions. It is crucial to note that Nigeria’s large, young population, widening deficits in primary and speciality care, and the state’s encouragement of investment have created opportunities for growth across all levels of service provision. 

On the other hand, the increasing demand, government commitment, technological advancements, private sector engagement, expanding health insurance coverage, medical tourism potential, and a focus on preventive healthcare are the forces behind the growth and development in Kenya.  

Related: East Africa keenly explores blockchain technology in healthcare

However, the key drivers behind the transformation and the promising opportunities that lie ahead generally for both countries are:  

Focus on preventive care  

Preventive care is becoming more popular in Nigeria and Kenya as a way to reduce the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Increased focus is being placed on health education, vaccination campaigns, and early disease detection by governments, healthcare practitioners, and non-governmental groups. Nigeria and Kenya hope to lower medical expenses, enhance population health outcomes, and build a healthier society overall by emphasising preventative care. 

Policy reforms and regulatory frameworks 

Both countries have recognised the importance of robust healthcare policies and regulations to drive sustainable growth and development in their healthcare markets. Nigeria and Kenya are undertaking policy reforms to strengthen healthcare financing, improve healthcare quality and safety, and streamline regulatory processes. These reforms aim to create an enabling environment for investment, enhance accountability, and foster innovation within the healthcare sector. 

Technological innovations and digital health solutions 

The delivery of healthcare in Nigeria and Kenya is changing as a result of technological innovations and digital health solutions. Remote consultations are made possible by telemedicine platforms, electronic health records, and mobile health applications, which are transforming patient care. Additionally, more sophisticated medical tools and technologies are being developed, resulting in more precise diagnoses and superior therapeutic outcomes. This will largely also help to manage the current burden of brain drain, geographical barriers, enhance healthcare delivery, and provide opportunities for Nigerian healthcare professionals to expand their reach and impact. 

Public-private partnerships 

Growth in the Nigerian and Kenyan healthcare markets is mostly driven by public-private sector cooperation. Public-private partnerships are aggressively promoted by both nations in an effort to capitalise on the advantages of each sector. While the public sector ensures fair access and regulation, private sector involvement adds experience, investment, and innovation. These collaborations are anticipated to encourage the creation of sustainable healthcare delivery systems that benefit a variety of patients. 

A typical example is the  US Agency for International Development (USAID) new partnership to accelerate primary healthcare in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Nigeria.  

Related: A glimpse at Africa Health 2022

Another similar partnership can also be pointed to Kenya’s partnership with Univercells to develop a biotechnology centre in Nairobi that will manufacture vaccines and drugs while also availing expertise, advisory support and training and technology transfer. 

Both nations have acknowledged the necessity of large investments in healthcare infrastructure, technology developments, regulatory reforms, and an emphasis on preventive care. In their respective healthcare sectors, these projects are building the groundwork for long-term growth and development. 

The rising potential for growth in their healthcare markets is undeniable. By capitalising on the opportunities at hand, Nigeria and Kenya have the potential to establish robust healthcare systems that meet the needs of their populations, drive economic development, and serve as models for other countries in the region. 

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Tourists from the Middle East region account for over 30 per cent of total spending on medical tourism, which adds up to US$100 billion spent worldwide. Considering the circumstances, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is set to enhance the profile of healthcare within the country and give regional tourists the opportunity to enjoy the best treatments in close vicinity. 

As part of the Saudi Vision 2030, which includes the ambitious Saudi Arabia Health Sector Transformation Program, the country’s leaders launched several initiatives to strengthen the foundation of the Kingdom’s medical tourism sector. Below are some of KSA’s noteworthy strategies set to transform healthcare delivery:  

Clinique La Prairie in the KSA 

Bringing the concept of a ‘health resort’ and the first of its 25 hotels, Clinique La Prairie is KSA’s project centred on wellness. The resort, which sprawls over 36,115 square metres, will include 52 rooms, apartments, and 13 villas. There will be facilities for preventative medicine, genetics, and epigenetics, and a full-fledged staff experienced in treatments for fatigue, anxiety, digestive problems, insomnia, and diabetes, as well as a diagnostic lab and museum. The resort will further run on 100 per cent renewable energy and is likely to become an attractive destination for medical tourists seeking luxurious facilities. 

Related: Saudi Arabia focuses on hospitality services in hospitals

Growth of healthcare privatisation  

The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) granted 100 per cent ownership to foreign investors involved in the healthcare space, following a renewed pledge made by the Saudi Government to privatise 295 state hospitals in 2020. This would allow the nation to participate in the international market for medical tourism. 

KSA will further work on capacity building aligned with privatisation goals and public-private-partnership initiatives. This move will also help the Kingdom boost speciality facilities, ranging from oncology and gynaecology to cosmetology. 

Rise of medical cities 

Medical cities in Saudi Arabia are expected to have comprehensive features, including advanced technologies and medical practices. A complete range of diagnostic procedures and therapeutic approaches are included in the services that cover most clinical services. Saudi Arabia currently has five medical cities in the pipeline: 

• King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh 
• King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah 
• King Khalid Medical City in Dammam 
• King Faisal Medical City for Southern Regions 
• Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Medical City to cater to the northern regions of Saudi Arabia. 

Their development should lead to an intriguing and advantageous junction for medical tourism by creating a more robust integration between local and global communities. 

Related: How healthtech solutions are shaping primary care in Saudi Arabia

Cultural and heritage development 

Saudi Arabia is extending its state-of-the-art health services to another 1.6 million visitors that travel year-round to the country for religious purposes. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage approved a plan to combine religious tourism with medical tourism, with a focus on special destinations like the Knowledge Economic City (KEC) Hub project. The area will feature shops, restaurants, cafes, and even five-star hotels.  

As the medical and tourism sectors converge, the Kingdom of Saudi is poised to transform the country into a sought-after global hub for medical tourism. 

Global Health Exhibition will take place from 29-31 October at Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center (RFECC). To learn more or to register, click here.

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The healthcare industry in the region is rapidly progressing towards personalised treatment and disease intervention, revolutionising the way care is delivered to patients. In specialised areas such as cancer care, this innovative paradigm shifts the focus from a one-size-fits-all approach to tailoring medical decisions and therapies to the specific needs of each individual patient.  

Personalised medicine has infiltrated into the realm of breast cancer in a way that has now improved the prognostic outcome of patients both in the early stage setting and the metastatic setting, said Dr. Shaheenah Dawood, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Adjunct Clinical Professor at Mohammed bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, during a media roundtable held earlier last month.  

Precision medicine involves utilising advanced technologies and genomic analysis to identify specific genetic mutations, biomarkers, and molecular diagnostics that cause the development and spread of cancer. By understanding the individual molecular profile of a patient's tumour, precision medicine enables healthcare professionals to administer targeted therapies with higher success rates and minimise unnecessary treatments and potential side effects. 

Related: How digital twins can give a boost to precision medicine

“Each patient should have individualised therapeutic management based on the biology of their disease, acquired targets, and profiling of the tumours because knowing that genomic makeup of the patient’s tumour helps in individualising therapy and building a treatment plan for each patient both in the early stage setting as well as the metastatic setting, thus improving the prognostic outcomes of patients,” said Dr. Dawood, who is also the President of the UAE Cancer Congress.  

She further adds that the UAE offers three types of tests for cancer diagnosis and personalised therapy. Tissue profiling of the tumour allows experts to determine the targets and administer effective treatment strategies. Another type of test is the liquid biopsy which involves analysing cancer cells in a patient’s blood sample, and the third type of test is the minimal residual disease detection test, used in cancer management to identify small amounts of cancer cells that may remain in a patient's body after treatment. While some of these tests are conducted within the UAE, others are sent overseas to approved agencies for comprehensive analysis.  

As precision medicine continues to make its strides in cancer research, the impact of AI can also be strongly felt in the field and has proven to improve treatment outcomes by enhancing accuracy in diagnosis, allowing personalised treatment selection, accelerating drug discovery, supporting decision-making, and facilitating real-time monitoring.  

Related: Pioneering integrated diagnostics in precision medicine

In the UAE, AI has been increasingly integrated into various aspects of oncology including diagnostics, radiology, and molecular profiling, and will soon be introduced into the clinical decision-making realm as well, says Dr. Dawood. AI software assists in detecting unknown primaries in patients subsequently providing accurate diagnosis. In radiology, AI also helps detect abnormalities in mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs, which could have possibly missed the human eye.  

While technology has revolutionised the delivery of cancer treatment outcomes, the key to combat the spread of the disease continues to be early detection and screening. In the UAE, the government has implemented comprehensive screening programmes across healthcare facilities, encouraging early testing that could significantly contribute towards reducing the burden of the disease.   

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Access the must-read eBook on AI here to discover perspectives on its transformative role in the healthcare industry.

Moderna was built on a simple guiding premise: if using mRNA as a medicine works for one disease, it has the potential to work for many others. Following more than a decade of research as pioneers of this technology, the mRNA platform has taught us many valuable lessons, one of which is that it extends beyond a single pathogen, disease, or pandemic.  

mRNA is essentially an information molecule, which means that by investing in science, it is possible over time to create many applications of the technology, potentially changing the way medicine is made. In the Middle East, its potential has only just scratched the surface. 

To date, we have seen mRNA’s success in the region with the provision and rollout of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic – in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait, among others. In the coming months and years, Moderna is committed to partnering with governments to meet the evolving needs of COVID-19 by advancing next-generation annual vaccines.  

Related: All you need to know about mRNA vaccines

While the public health emergency for COVID-19 has ended, it is still a public health threat in the region. The WHO recommends vaccination as a pillar of a sound public health approach, given the benefit of vaccination in reducing severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. The virus is here to stay, and that is why countries now need to think about preparedness and the role that future booster vaccines can play to protect the population in terms of matching the emerging variants.  

The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) recently voted 21 to 0 to recommend a periodic update of the current COVID vaccine composition to a monovalent XBB lineage. Moderna is ready to support the Gulf Cooperation Council and the broader region with the roll-out of updated COVID-19 vaccines. For this, global regulators have aligned on an XBB.1.5-targeting vaccine candidate to support vaccination campaigns moving forward. 

Additionally, it is also worth noting that a recent study of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) electronic health databases in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) demonstrated that for an older population, being hospitalised for COVID-19 vs. seasonal influenza was linked with a greater risk of death. Crucially, the risk of death was lower with the number of COVID-19 vaccinations. 

Beyond the potential of addressing COVID-19 in the Middle East over the long term, what is truly exciting is the potential of mRNA to help protect the population against a wide variety of other diseases that impact the region’s population and have a high unmet need. These include rare, metabolic, autoimmune, infectious diseases, immune-oncology, and cardiovascular diseases. 

There are also different and more prevalent diseases throughout the Middle East compared to the Western World, such as an increased prevalence of rare diseases. Collaborative work and partnerships in the mRNA space could serve to facilitate early discovery efforts for these, identify potential mRNA targets that can treat or mitigate their symptoms, and ultimately, develop lead vaccine candidates to fight these diseases. 

Moderna understands the value of collaboration, which is why in March 2022, as part of our global public health strategy, we launched a new programme, mRNA Access, that offers researchers worldwide use of our mRNA technology to explore new vaccines against emerging or neglected infectious diseases. We are keen to use this platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration in the region. 

The potential of the mRNA platform to transform medicine, not only in the Middle East but worldwide, is real. It is very powerful to think that our bodies can act as such an effective medicine factory and that human ingenuity has found a way to leverage this through mRNA.  

As for the mRNA story in the Middle East and its role in transforming medicine for the long term, this is only the beginning. In time, mRNA-based therapies have the potential to transform medicine across healthcare.  

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Cesar Sanz Rodriguez is the Vice President, Medical Affairs — Europe and Switzerland, Moderna. 

 

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The MENA region is witnessing a rise in HIV infections, and both healthcare leaders and stakeholders are actively working to address this pressing issue. The 7^th edition of the HIV Summit, recently hosted by Gilead Sciences in the Middle East, brought together leading minds to discuss strategies for overcoming the challenges in combating HIV.

Speaking to Omnia Health, Dr. Nezar Bahbari, Director of the Saudi Community Society of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases said that a key outcome of the event was the level of commitment demonstrated by stakeholders. This involved plans to launch HIV awareness campaigns and modify existing regulations to address the epidemic. They also acknowledged the role social media plays in facilitating sexual encounters and stressed the need for innovative awareness campaigns.

“It was further agreed that modifications to current regulations are imperative to provide the necessary education in efforts to contain the virus, acknowledging that the current approach has not yielded sufficient results. In my opinion, this commitment was the most critical outcome of the summit,” said Dr. Bahbari.

The importance of comprehensive awareness programmes at educational institutions and the significance of HIV testing and prevention strategies were also topics of discussion, alongside various communication approaches for effective messaging and overcoming public backlash.

“Those overseeing HIV programmes within various ministries recognised the role social media platforms play in facilitating easier sexual encounters. Given this reality, it is crucial to launch innovative awareness campaigns that align with the evolving social media landscape. In truth, comprehensive awareness programmes need to be introduced at the school and university levels. Furthermore, it is also crucial to teach the public about the importance of HIV testing and amplify efforts in deploying effective prevention strategies,” Dr. Bahbari explained.

Related: Shedding light on the search for an HIV cure

Saudi Arabia takes the lead in HIV awareness and treatment

In recent years, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries stepped up their national initiatives to strengthen public HIV awareness and treatment options for people living with the virus, said Dr. Bahbari. This involves a rise in HIV awareness campaigns and education targeted at the public to foster an informed understanding of testing and treatment.

The most substantial breakthrough at the HIV Summit was the regulators' approval and commitment to prioritise free, anonymous testing among individuals.
“Once this strategy is adopted, access to medical treatment will become significantly smoother and more efficient. In fact, medical treatment is readily available in the region. For example, in Saudi Arabia, insurance companies bear the cost of medical treatment for HIV-infected individuals. Notably, it is the first country in the MENA region to implement such an initiative,” Dr. Bahbari commented.

Leaders at the event were in mutual agreement to provide necessary training to clinics in order to safeguard patient privacy and welfare. The introduction of affordable home testing kits, akin to pregnancy tests, was also a significant point of discussion. By making these tests available in pharmacies, individuals can test at their own convenience. This solution may incentivise regular testing following each relationship.

HIV epidemic in a conservative region

Although there are existing policies that address this issue, Dr. Bahbari said that their implementation is lacklustre due to the reserved nature of these countries which makes it challenging to acknowledge sexual relationships and discuss related topics openly.

People in the MENA region are also hesitant to undergo medical tests because they fear the repercussions of a positive result. Consequently, they engage in relationships without prior testing, she added. “Public education about the matter is inadequate and there is insufficient emphasis on the importance of testing,” she said.

Related: Genomics and its rapid evolution in the Middle East

Importance of HIV testing and policies

HIV is detectable and transmissible, and testing can serve as the first line of defense. HIV may also take around eight to 10 years for the symptoms to manifest in infected individuals. During this asymptomatic period, people may unknowingly transmit the virus to others. Diagnosis and appropriate medical treatment, however, can eradicate the risk of transmission. As a chronic disease, HIV can be managed effectively with treatment, enabling patients to live long, normal lives.

Dr. Bahbari explained that a two-step approach is necessary to curb the spread of HIV. The first step is to get tested prior to initiating a new relationship. In the event of a positive test, immediate medical intervention is necessary to ensure the treatment's effectiveness and eradicate the virus from the bloodstream. Patients who undergo treatment for more than two months usually clear the virus from their systems, making it virtually impossible to transmit the virus subsequently.

The second step is to increase public education and awareness campaigns to highlight the significance of testing prior to forming any relationships.

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The global AI in drug discovery market is expected to reach US$24.7 million by 2029, growing at a rate of 53.3 per cent annually. But AI is not a healthcare panacea. If AI is meant to be a cure-all, then advancing technology becomes a new and more complex challenge. For example, generative AI has flooded the public consciousness, with tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney dominating mainstream tech conversations, but is the technology ready for healthcare applications?

The promise of generative AI

Generative AI techniques have the potential to significantly accelerate the drug discovery process by suggesting novel compounds, optimising molecular properties, and expanding chemical libraries. By leveraging the power of machine learning and advanced algorithms, researchers can explore infinite combinations of chemical molecules and uncover potential drug candidates that might have been missed using traditional methods. 

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage AI-driven drug discovery company, launched the world’s largest AI-powered biotechnology research centre in Abu Dhabi this year, specifically to further healthcare applications of generative AI. The company released several AI tools, including PandaOmics (generative AI for target discovery), Chemistry42 (generative AI for drug design), and InClinico (generative AI for clinical trial outcome prediction), collectively called Pharma.AI.

While the Middle East does not have a record of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development, Dr. Alex Aliper, President of Insilco, believes the region has the ingredients to leapfrog innovation, with its extensive scientific and technological expertise and opportunities for multi-stakeholder collaboration.

“Just like ChatGPT can take input parameters and produce generated output, our platform can turn scientists’ directions for molecules with specific characteristics into brand new drug candidates that can then be synthesised and developed into new treatments for disease,” says Aliper.

However, in AI for health, there’s an added layer of urgency and accuracy, where bias could set research back instead of propelling it forward. “The trouble is that machine learning mainly focuses on prediction when what we need to recover is the truth,” says Kun Zhang, Director of the Center for Integrative Artificial Intelligence and MBZUAI’s Associate Professor of Machine Learning. “The system has to be infinitely more flexible and deliver the true relationships between genes to provide meaningful and accurate information.”

Related: ChatGPT to usher in a new era of patient care

Privacy, accuracy and regulations

According to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), bias manifests itself not only in AI algorithms and the data used to train them, but also in the societal context in which these tools are used.

“Context is everything,” says Reva Schwartz, Principal Investigator for AI Bias and one of NIST’s report authors. “AI systems do not operate in isolation. They help people make decisions that directly affect other people’s lives. If we are to develop trustworthy AI systems, we need to consider all the factors that can chip away at the public’s trust in AI. Many of these factors go beyond the technology itself to the impacts of the technology, and the comments we received from a wide range of people and organisations emphasised this point.”

The report is sector and industry agnostic but warns that organisations should engage in high-quality data curation, make sure that data sources are diverse, and cross-validate using a variety of overlapping datasets to reduce that risk. To reduce biases and increase the accuracy of the model, organisations should also work together to create standardised methods for data collection and sharing. They should also embrace transparent documentation of data processing.

Because generative AI depends on enormous volumes of data, privacy concerns can arise concerning the potential misuse of sensitive data. Companies considering the use of generative AI should establish explicit policies, interact with authorities, and create moral frameworks to guide its use.

To complicate matters even more, generative AI models such as LLMs can sometimes “hallucinate” facts and research papers, which can be catastrophic in healthcare. Last year, Meta unveiled its scientific LLM Galactica in a public demonstration, only to take it offline three days later. Using ALMs with improved dependability and reasoning systems might be able to solve this issue. Drug firms can use expert knowledge and validation procedures, including iterative feedback from subject-matter experts or reinforcement learning with real-world data, to increase the accuracy of generative AI models.  

Related: Technology-driven convergence in the life sciences industry

Challenges in scaling generative AI

Generative AI in its current iteration does not take causal relationships between data sets into account. “Only then can we begin to entertain the notion that AI can be used to inform new areas of research, the development of new pharmaceuticals, or the treatment of an individual patient,” says MBUZAI’s Zhang. “If you assume, as many researchers do, that there are linear relationships between your variables, this might skew all your results on real problems. On the other hand, if you use flexible models, the learning process will be less efficient. This is why we often say that causal analysis does not scale.”

To address this issue, Zhang’s team is exploring how causal analysis can be scaled to analyse millions of complex relationships. This, in the context of personalised medicine, has the potential to revolutionise drug discovery while avoiding the technology hype cycle.

While using generative AI, researchers must assume fairly basic and frequently linear relationships between variables, where a change in one variable results in a direct and predictable change in another variable. With complex health issues, however, variables are intertwined and linked in ways that are hard to predict. As a result, Zhang says, scaling up understanding of causal relationships is a long-standing challenge in various disciplines of science and machine learning.

Generative AI in drug repurposing

Causal links are a challenge for generative AI in identifying new therapeutic applications for existing drugs as well. Machine learning models can analyse large databases of molecular structures, biological interactions, and pharmacological properties to predict the efficacy and safety of potential drug candidates. By analysing diverse datasets, including clinical trials, electronic health records, and scientific literature, AI algorithms can identify connections between known drugs and previously unexplored diseases. However, this is still mostly theoretical.

In 2021, Ohio State University (OSU) released research exploring a machine-learning method to determine whether certain drugs can be repurposed for new uses. “This work shows how AI can be used to ‘test’ a drug on a patient, speed up hypothesis generation, and potentially speed up a clinical trial,” senior study author Ping Zhang, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Biomedical Informatics at OSU, said in a news release. “But we will never replace the physician — drug decisions will always be made by clinicians.”

Like MBZUAI’s Zhang’s research, the OSU researchers applied “causal inference theory” to group active drug and placebo patient groups that would be found in a clinical trial. “With causal inference, we can address the problem of having multiple treatments. We do not answer whether drug A or drug B works for this disease or not, but we figure out which treatment will have the better performance,” OSU’s Zhang says.

“My motivation is applying this, along with other experts, to find drugs for diseases without any current treatment. This is very flexible, and we can adjust it case by case. The general model could be applied to any disease if you can define the disease outcome.”

So far, this approach has not taken root in the Middle East, but its potential could be limitless.

While the industry is currently in its infancy, the region's investment in AI infrastructure, research collaborations, and partnerships between academia, industry, and government bodies can further accelerate the adoption and development of generative AI-based solutions for pharmaceutical R&D.

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Hospitals, as well as clinics focused on obesity, gynaecology clinics and diabetes, play a crucial role in promoting healthy dietary practices and managing specific medical conditions, and this has led to the emergence of innovative food labelling technologies to enable transparency and empower patients with accurate information. 

The need for food transparency 

Besides promoting healthy eating habits, food transparency helps medical experts identify health conditions and provide effective patient care. Transparent food labelling further allows patients to make informed choices, track their dietary intake, and manage their health conditions more efficiently. 

Software for dietary analysis  

Web-based software solutions have transformed the way food-related data is collected, analysed, and communicated, giving hospitals and clinics the opportunity to collaborate with food companies and effectively gain essential information about their products. The data gathered includes nutritional content, ingredients, allergen warnings, and any other pertinent details necessary for patients to make informed decisions about their dietary choices. 

Related: Tech solutions set to disrupt healthcare

Zebra Technologies, for instance, is working with companies like Dedalus SRD and Foodintech to track hospital meals and workflow improvement through a mobile device or computer. The AI-based platform can trigger an alert, calculate food waste, optimise food quantity, and correlate with dietician’s recommendation or prescription.    

Data management and analysis 

The integration of web-based software with food labelling systems enables hospitals and clinics to efficiently manage and analyse vast amounts of data, giving healthcare professionals the ability to assess the nutritional value of food items, identify potential allergens or harmful ingredients, and track patients’ dietary patterns accurately. These data-driven insights can help prepare treatment plans tailored to individual needs. 

Encouraging self-management among patients 

Transparent food labelling empowers patients to actively participate in their healthcare journey. By providing easily accessible and accurate information, hospitals and clinics can foster a sense of ownership and responsibility among patients. This, in turn, encourages self-management, adherence to dietary recommendations, and the overall improvement of patient health outcomes. 

Collaboration between healthcare facilities and food companies 

To achieve maximum transparency in food labelling, it is essential for hospitals and clinics to collaborate closely with food companies. Web-based software solutions facilitate this partnership by offering a platform for effective communication and data sharing. By working together, healthcare facilities and food companies can ensure that accurate and up-to-date information is readily available to patients, creating a more transparent and trustworthy food ecosystem. 

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