The United Arab Emirates has revealed a historic and unprecedented breakthrough in the healthcare sector and medical innovation, announcing the first drug candidate discovered and developed entirely using artificial intelligence technologies. According to experts and project supporters, this pioneering achievement represents a true revolution in the world of pharmacology, successfully condensing a research and development process that typically takes more than 10 years to complete into less than one year.
Mechanism of action of the new cancer-fighting drug
The Emirates Drug Establishment (EDE) announced that the new compound, named “ISM0387” and developed in collaboration with Insilico Medicine, has been officially nominated as a pre-clinical drug candidate. The entire discovery and development sequence was completed within the borders of the UAE in a timeframe not exceeding 12 months. The drug acts as an advanced inhibitor targeting the “PRMT5” enzyme, engineered to attack cancer cells characterized by the deletion of the “MTAP” gene with high selectivity and precision. This genetic trait accounts for approximately 15 percent of all human cancers, making the drug a new hope for a wide segment of patients while offering the exceptional advantage of preserving healthy tissues and sparing them from the usual side effects of conventional treatments.
The candidate drug shows particularly promising efficacy against aggressive brain tumors, which are globally classified among the most difficult types of cancer to treat. Preclinical studies conducted on animal models have demonstrated superior tumor suppression capabilities when administered a daily dose of 30 mg/kg over 20 days, with the compound showing strong blood-brain barrier penetration capabilities—the greatest challenge faced by many previous brain cancer drugs.
A revolution in timelines and financial costs
In this context, the research team relied on the company’s innovative “Chemistry42” platform, an ultra-advanced system integrating more than 40 generative AI models. This platform enabled the screening and testing of over 90 potential molecules in a record period of about six months. Notably, this preliminary screening phase alone typically takes more than four years using traditional laboratory methods, while the complete drug development process can exceed 10 years with exorbitant financial costs surpassing $1 billion USD. This radical shift underscores artificial intelligence’s ability to reshape the global pharmaceutical industry.
Enhancing drug sovereignty and global horizons
This exceptional announcement builds on a strategic memorandum of understanding signed between the Emirates Drug Establishment and the developing company during the Global Health Exhibition 2026 held last February—an event that marked the official launch of the Emirates Drug Establishment as the nation’s regulatory body for pharmaceuticals. At the time, Dr. Sheikha Al Mazrouei, Director of the Drug Department at the National Reference Laboratory of the EDE, stated that this collaboration would apply generative models and reinforcement learning algorithms to analyze deep biological, chemical, and clinical data. This step aims to improve chemical compound design and reduce reliance on animal testing in early development stages.
Meanwhile, Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri, Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Drug Establishment, emphasized that this qualitative achievement positions the UAE in a global leadership role, making it “an active contributor to global biotechnology value chains rather than merely a passive adopter of technologies.” Similarly, Dr. Fatima Al Kaabi, Director-General of the EDE, described the achievement as a milestone demonstrating the country’s growing capabilities in domestic drug development, redefining the concept of drug security from merely ensuring supplies to possessing genuine sovereign capability for development and innovation.
This development represents not only a local achievement for the UAE, but also a powerful message to the global scientific community that deploying advanced technologies can solve complex medical dilemmas that have eluded humanity for decades. Brain cancer, specifically its aggressive forms targeted by this research, has long posed a tremendous challenge to oncologists due to the difficulty of delivering active substances across the blood-brain barrier. By successfully overcoming this complex biological hurdle, the new compound opens wide the door for developing new therapeutic protocols that could save the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide.
On the institutional front, Hong Kong-listed Insilico Medicine has nominated more than 22 drugs for the pre-clinical stage using its AI-powered platform, with 10 successfully reaching actual clinical trials. The company recently showcased significant scientific data at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026 regarding compound “ISM1745,” which demonstrated a 272-fold selectivity for cancer cells. However, the new Emirati compound remains unique as the first candidate whose entire journey of discovery—from target identification to candidate approval—took place exclusively within the United Arab Emirates.
FAQs
What is the new drug announced in the UAE?
It is the first drug candidate discovered and developed entirely using artificial intelligence technologies inside the UAE, primarily targeting aggressive brain cancers.
How did artificial intelligence accelerate the drug’s discovery?
Generative AI platforms were used to analyze data and test molecules, cutting research and development time from more than 10 years to less than 12 months.
What is the mechanism of action of this drug?
The drug acts as a specific enzyme inhibitor to target cancer cells suffering from a specific gene deletion, while protecting healthy tissue from damage and effectively crossing the blood-brain barrier.
