BioAro’s Anmol Kapoor on Dubai as a centre for longevity and how blockchain can enhance delivery and control of personalized healthcare.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region is currently experiencing significant economic growth and demographic shifts. The population across these nations has surged to nearly 60 million, and this growth is accompanied by a youthful demographic profile; in 2021, over 50% of the local population in GCC countries was under 25, while the proportion of older citizens remained low, with some countries having less than 6% of locals over the age of 65. But young people get old, and the GCC countries countries are making significant strides in addressing longevity and healthy aging, and Dubai, in particular, is demonstrating a forward-looking approach to longevity and healthspan.
Dubai continues to attract global attention for its rapid development and investment opportunities. In line with this growth, BioAro Group, a Canadian biotech company specializing in genomics and precision medicine, has expanded its operations to the region, and under the leadership of cardiologist Dr Anmol Kapoor, BioAro has established a new Precision Health and Longevity Clinic in Dubai, which opened last year.
Longevity.Technology: BioAro’s expansion into Dubai is part of a broader strategy to establish the UAE as a global hub for precision medicine, genomics and personalized care. By investing in genome labs, clinics, and training for medical professionals, BioAro seeks to revolutionize healthcare delivery in the region, extending healthspans and improving the quality of life for the population.
It’s an initiative that aligns with the UAE’s commitment to advancing healthcare services and embracing innovative technologies to meet the needs of its dynamic and growing population. The integration of precision medicine into the healthcare system could well address the unique demographic challenges of the GCC region, promoting proactive health management and disease prevention. To find out more about the burgeoning landscape of longevity practices in the GCC, we sat down with Anmol Kapoor, CEO of BioAro.
Anmol Kapoor on…
Hello, Dubai
People are seeing a huge change in Dubai – many people in a small space, and they have fast pace. People are working, trying to make a living and trying to improve the quality of life, and that’s putting extra pressure on their health.
UAE overall has a younger population, but exponentially higher rates for cardiovascular diseases. People are developing premature heart disease, hypertension, sleep apnea, you name it. They have a huge prevalence in incidence of diseases compared with other countries, and the country is 24 hours n the go and that can be stressful and contribute to increasing this burden of disease onset early on. If we can tackle that, we’re not only going to help Dubai and the overall UAE market, but we’re also going to create a change reaction in the neighboring countries – the knowledge will be transferred very fast in those countries. So I’m very positive – I like the environment, I like the energy and I do see huge scope in longevity medicine.
The future of healthcare data
I think we will be moving away from a regular health record system based clinics or health organizations. I think things will become more data focused, longitudinal record focused. This is where big growth is going to happen. All these variables are just a start – smart mirrors, the water we are using, the type of food we’re eating… there are so many different insights we can get from epigenetic perspective that impact aging, telomeres and methylation. We can understand, in a longitudinal manner, from all these data sets just how a patient is living. Usually what happens in healthcare is that we only get data when the patient comes to see a doctor, but the new technologies, the ELR-based technologies, provide us with longitudinal capabilities. Doctors will have a large amount of data sets and will understand much more about the behavior of the patient. AI tools are going to help us improve and provide better care to our patients and help them live longer. That is the huge impact I’m expecting – it’s the lowest hanging fruit and it is going to change how we practice medicine globally.
Blockchain benefits
By law, patients are the owners of their own healthcare data. So to bypass that, make an NFT, make a national identification card and enter that as a digital wallet. Now mandate that it doesn’t matter which ER company or MR company you interact with it as a patient, they have to feed the data into the system, and it becomes organized under your control. Now you as a patient can decide if you want to donate to the people, if you want to sell this data to pharma company, if you want rent it out or give it away for research purposes – you can track all these longitudinal files in one place since you are the owner. I do believe blockchain is going to unlock huge potential and give ownership back in the people’s hands – the blockchain opens up the opportunity for personalized care to be delivered, and puts control back in the patient’s hands. I’m very positive about that.
