PESHAWAR: Saudi Arabia’s Novo Genomics and the Precision Medicine Lab at Rehman Medical Institute (RMI) in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar have launched the Saudi-Pakistan Biotech Bridge Initiative, a partnership to expand genomics and artificial-intelligence-based research aimed at combating cancer and other major diseases.

Signed in Riyadh last month, the memorandum of understanding was inked by Novo Genomics CEO Dr. Abdulelah Al-Hawsawi and Dr. Faisal Khan, director of RMI’s Precision Medicine Lab. Both institutions operate with government backing, Novo Genomics through Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health and RMI’s lab under Pakistan’s federally funded Planning Commission program.

Under the agreement, researchers will develop cross-border biobanks, carry out joint clinical studies and use AI to predict and prevent diseases. The initiative also includes academic exchanges and joint conferences to train young scientists and strengthen regional biotechnology expertise.

Dr. Khan, who is leading the project in Pakistan, said the accord followed months of discussion. 

“We’ve been having conversations with Novo Genomics in Saudi Arabia, one of the leading startups in precision medicine, and that has matured into an MoU … which we are calling the Saudi-Pakistan Biotech Bridge,” he told Arab News. 

“This is a gateway now for us to exchange our latest research and ideas and our prototypes, as well as talent from both sides, which is again very important for any research enterprise.”

He said the collaboration would allow both sides to study their populations’ genetic makeup and accelerate progress in precision medicine:

“Novo Genomics has good know-how of their population, we have a good understanding of ours and this will really speed up our R&D efforts in this space of medicine.”

Khan added that the partnership supports both nations’ technology-driven economic goals:

“Saudi Arabia is now interested in technology-driven non-oil sectors which can bring in revenue. Pakistan … is looking to catapult its economy through technology. There’s no better tool to undertake this than using AI.”

Calling the project a “win-win scenario,” he said it came at a pivotal time in bilateral relations: 

“We’ve had traditional collaborations in traditional sectors like defense, Hajj and Umrah maybe, but we never saw biotechnology. We are very proud that this is happening now. Biotech and synthetic biology are expected to be a $30 trillion industry by 2040, and for Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to join hands and have a piece of that can really go far.”

AI-DRIVEN DRUG REPURPOSING 

A key focus of the collaboration is applying artificial intelligence to drug repurposing, which is identifying new therapeutic uses for existing medicines.

“One leg of our project is drug repurposing, where we use AI to see what drugs created for one specific disease can actually be used for another kind of disease,” said Syed Tauheed Ahmad, 26, a research assistant at RMI’s lab. 

“We’d like to use AI to see what parameters match between populations and the chemical profiles of drugs that might allow us to use or repurpose them in cancers that are more prevalent in Pakistan and maybe Saudi Arabia.”

He added that the lab’s AI models could eventually generate drug candidates tailored to each country’s population. 

“For the first time, we can now give Saudi Arabia drug repurposing candidates that might be better suited for their population because our model makes suggestions based on the genomic and profile data of their population.”

Among the RMI team’s major research areas is oral cancer, one of Pakistan’s most common cancers. The lab has spent years developing what Dr. Khan described as a “multi-omic stack,” a comprehensive database combining genetic, molecular and biological information from local patients. 

“We have banked all the biological samples which come with it, including cell lines for each patient. This really becomes a nice experimental playground to test what’s happening inside the population,” he said.

Wajid Khan, another researcher at RMI, said the project would help both nations better understand how genetic variations shape disease risk. 

“Different populations have different risks for developing certain diseases,” he said. “If we could do something before even the disease onset, then I think that’s a fair chance for all the patients who could be developing the disease in the future to mitigate or to alleviate the risk of the disease.”

In a statement, Dr. Abdulelah Al-Hawsawi, CEO of Novo Genomics, said the partnership “represents an important step towards building a regional genomic ecosystem that serves patients, researchers and industry.”