Health Research, Regulations and Ethics in the United Arab Emirates

Healthcare services and research in the UAE is regulated by the Ministry of Health. Cultural and genetic differences within the local populations, the high rate of consanguinity and lack of prenatal genetic screening, inherited hematological disorders offer significant opportunities for research. The surge in clinical research and clinical trial activities in the UAE recently has encouraged the need to develop an effective robust regulatory framework. The research ethics committees are required to be licensed by the health authority. The decentralized and non-prescriptive nature of the ethics committees has encouraged faster quality research reviews and approval time, in addition to patient protection, although heterogeneity in terms of research submission requirements exists. Global providers of research training have met with limited success in the UAE because of largely overlooking the impact of regional, cultural and social factors and, constantly changing research and regulations. The Abu Dhabi Clinical Research Excellence Development for Innovation and Technology (ACREDIT), a homegrown training program has successfully addressed the basic to advanced level research needs of investigators, sponsors and support staff for clinical studies in the UAE. Willingness to comply with regulations by the trained investigators make the UAE unique for developing a robust human research enterprise.