Abu Dhabi is to host the Middle East’s first heavy ion cancer therapy facility, of which there are only 15 in the world, while locally manufactured cell antigen treatments could cut costs by up to 90 per cent.
Carbon ion therapy is an advanced form of radiotherapy that delivers high-energy particles with exceptional precision, offering new hope to patients with tumours that do not respond to conventional treatments. The technology is known to minimise damage to healthy tissue while aggressively targeting cancer cells.
Construction of the facility, which will be at the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Centre at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, is expected to begin in 2026. It will be the only one within a five-hour flight from the emirate when it opens, according to Hasan Al Nowais, managing director and group chief executive of M42, one of the health companies leading the project.
Local manufacturing and training, meanwhile, to carry out chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is set to cut treatment costs by up to 90 per cent, according to Burjeel Holdings, which announced a partnership with US-based non-profit Caring Cross at Abu Dhabi Global Health Week on Tuesday.
CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that collects a patient’s blood, isolates their T-cells – specialised immune cells – modifies them in a lab so they can recognise and attack cancer, and then reinfuses them back into the patient, essentially reprogramming the immune system to become a personalised weapon against cancer. It is one of the most expensive forms of cancer treatment – the cost of one treatment cycle in the US can exceed $1.5 million.
Treating patients 'who had no hope'
The heavy ion cancer therapy facility will be made possible through a partnership between M42, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, and Japan’s Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions.
“It’s definitely something transformational for Abu Dhabi. It’s a project I’ve been working on for at least the last seven years,” Mr Al Nowais told The National. “Only 15 of these devices exist globally, mainly in Japan, [South] Korea and Germany, and this will be the only one within a five-hour flight from Abu Dhabi.
"It will bring the best treatments to our patients here and will begin to attract patients from across the region. It will save lives, especially for those where traditional therapies no longer work.”
Dr Stephen Grobmyer, director of the oncology institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, said heavy ion therapy is a powerful form of radiation that uses charged particles to deliver significantly more energy to tumours than traditional radiotherapy.
“In some cancers, like specific types of lung cancer, a single session [of heavy ion therapy] may replace weeks of treatment. It allows us to treat patients who previously had no hope from radiation at all,” he said.
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has already started specialised training for the medical, technical and engineering teams who will run the facility. The hospital has also signed agreements with Japan’s Quantum Science and Technology Hospital, and additional agreements with other leading Japanese institutions are expected in the coming weeks.
Cutting costs and saving lives
On CAR T-cell therapies, Burjeel Holdings will work with Caring Cross to bring the necessary technology, materials, and specialised training to Abu Dhabi for manufacturing. It is hoped that doing this locally will reduce costs by up to 90 per cent.
The treatment has shown remarkable success in the fight against blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma. The first phase of the programme will focus on CAR T-cell therapies for these two forms of blood cancer, with plans to explore treatments for other diseases, including HIV, in the future.
“This is a monumental stride in enhancing access to cancer treatments and addressing the escalating need for advanced health care globally,” said Dr Ajlan Al Zaki, director of the haematology oncology and cellular therapy centre at Burjeel Hospital Abu Dhabi.
In a earlier interview with The National, Dr Al Zaki, who is the first and only Emirati doctor to specialise in cellular cancer therapy, said more widespread access to CAR T-cell therapy is "the dream" as it could one day be offered to all before chemotherapy.
Rather than shipping patient cells abroad for processing, Dr Al Zaki hopes to set up a lab in the UAE to perform the entire process domestically. In 2023, Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Centre, a subsidiary of Pure Health, successfully manufactured the UAE’s first CAR T-cells to treat an 11-year-old boy with leukaemia.
“It would be exciting to bring down the cost of CAR T-cell therapy … or a collaborative opportunity in the UAE would be something very beneficial," he said. "The technology is out there, the knowledge is out there. If we do the programming ourselves, you already cut down the cost by several hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
While CAR T-cell therapy is used to treat blood cancers, researchers including Dr Zaki are exploring ways to expand its reach to solid tumours. He also wants to see the UAE become a centre for clinical trials and specialised expertise.