- Strategic framework established for regional and global licensing, frontier technology incubation, and strategic collaboration in neurodegenerative diseases
- Joint R&D aligned with China-UAE bilateral partnership and Abu Dhabi’s Healthcare Life Sciences Vision 2030
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and Shanghai, China, April 28, 2026 – Arcera Life Sciences (“Arcera”), a global life sciences company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (“Fosun Pharma”), an innovation-driven global pharmaceutical and healthcare group, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a long-term strategic collaboration focused on licensing, technology development, neuroscience innovation and value creation in the global life sciences sector.
The agreement was executed by Sunil Bhilotra, Chief Investment Officer of Arcera, and Xingli Wang, Co-President of Fosun Pharma, CEO of Innovative Medicines Division in Shanghai, China. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Qunbin Wang, Co-Chairman of Fosun International; Yuqing Chen, Chairman of Fosun Pharma; Isabel Afonso, Chief Executive Officer of Arcera; and Rafael Ferrer, SVP Corporate Development of Arcera.
Aligned with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the UAE and Abu Dhabi’s Healthcare Life Sciences Vision 2030 objectives, this MoU creates pathways for innovation and market access in both countries. The collaboration combines Fosun Pharma’s world-class R&D and manufacturing capabilities with Arcera’s international market access and commercial infrastructure, positioning Abu Dhabi as a premier bridge between Chinese biotech innovation and global markets while accelerating patient access to breakthrough therapies across the Middle East and beyond.
As part of the agreement, Fosun Pharma and Arcera will explore collaboration across three key areas:
- Regional and global licensing of assets: The collaboration will initially focus on identifying potential licensing opportunities for Fosun Pharma assets in oncology, neuroscience, rare diseases and cardiometabolic disease, including compounds currently in advanced clinical development or commercial stages in China.
- Frontier technology incubation: Exploration of joint ventures or new entities to localize cutting-edge biotechnology and foster sovereign R&D capabilities in the UAE across small molecules, biologics, radiopharmaceuticals, small interfering RNA therapies, and cell and gene therapies.
- Strategic collaboration in neuroscience: The neuroscience collaboration will focus particularly on neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease programs, addressing a critical global health challenge where both innovative therapeutics and regional access remain significant unmet needs.
Isabel Afonso, CEO of Arcera commented: “Today marks another step forward in our journey to build a truly global life sciences ecosystem anchored in the UAE. By combining Fosun Pharma’s proven drug development capabilities with Arcera’s international commercial and manufacturing capabilities, we are creating a model for how China-UAE collaboration can accelerate both biotechnology innovation and patient access to breakthrough therapies. This is our first strategic partnership that will position Abu Dhabi as the bridge between Asian innovation and global markets.”
Xingli Wang, Co-President of Fosun Pharma, CEO of Innovative Medicines Division, said: “We are excited to establish this strategic partnership with Arcera, which marks a pivotal milestone for Fosun Pharma in deepening international collaboration and expanding into global markets. Arcera is a formidable industry player, and we are confident that our systematic capabilities built over more than 30 years in global R&D and manufacturing, will instill greater confidence in our collaboration. We look forward to working closely with Arcera, leveraging our respective strengths to accelerate the delivery of innovative therapies in the Middle East and across the globe, so that our innovative achievements can benefit more patients worldwide.”
-END-
About Arcera Life Sciences
Arcera Life Sciences is a global life sciences company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Our purpose is to enable longer and healthier lives while creating sustainable growth. We develop, manufacture, and commercialize a broad range of innovative and proven medicines in key international markets. With a large footprint reaching patients in over 90 markets, and manufacturing and packaging facilities in eight countries, we offer more than 2,000 medicines across various therapeutic areas worldwide. Arcera was established by ADQ, an active sovereign investor with a focus on critical infrastructure and global supply chains, to realize Abu Dhabi’s ambition as a global leader in innovative and sustainable healthcare.
To learn more about Arcera, visit www.arceralifesciences.com.
About Fosun Pharma
Founded in 1994, Fosun Pharma (stock code: 600196.SH; 02196.HK) is an innovation-driven global pharmaceutical and healthcare group. With the mission of Better Health for Families Worldwide, we focus on developing innovative medicines, medical technologies and diagnostics as well as delivering healthcare services. Through our business partner Sinopharm Group, we have also established pharmaceutical distribution network, built a comprehensive pharmaceutical and healthcare ecosystem.
Fosun Pharma is dedicated to innovation and globalization. The company has established a global R&D innovation system targeting at unmet medical needs. Our strategic focus is on key therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology and inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, and selected cardiometabolic diseases and rare diseases. This approach enables the development of high valued competitive pipelines and comprehensive healthcare solutions. Meanwhile, Fosun Pharma has consolidated its core technical platforms including but not limited to antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), small molecules and cell therapy. Additionally, we also actively advance cutting-edge therapeutic modalities such as radiopharmaceuticals and small nucleic acids. These efforts have strengthened our early-stage innovative portfolios and accelerated the transformation of scientific discoveries to drug development. Our innovative products are now available in more than 90 countries and regions worldwide, including major markets across China, the United States, Europe, Africa, India and Southeast Asia.
Looking ahead, guided by the strategy of “Innovation Driven, Deep Globalization, and AI Embracement”, Fosun Pharma remains committed to its core values: Care for life, Continuous innovation, Pursuit of excellence and Sustainable partnership. We strive to become a leading global healthcare innovation integrator, ensuring that the benefits of medical innovation reach more patients worldwide, and contribute to safeguarding human health.
For more information about the Group, please visit the company website: https://www.fosunpharma.com/en/
For media inquiries, please contact:
Arcera Life Sciences
Patrick Kerr, VP Corporate Communications: [email protected] or [email protected]
Fosun Pharma
Angel Yi, General Manager of Branding and PR department, [email protected]