Saudi Arabia's biotech momentum: inside RGMBS 2026

0:05Hello, and welcome to Beyond Biotech, the weekly podcast from La Biotech. I'm Dylan Kassane, and this is episode 218 for the podcast. Saudi Arabia has spent recent years building one of the most ambitious biotech gatherings in the region, the Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit. This September, the fourth edition brought together delegations from more than 57 countries and over 200 speakers, closing with more than 40 agreements and initiatives worth over$1.3 billion. From gene editing and genomics to AI-driven drug discovery and biomanufacturing, the summit is positioning itself as a serious node in the global biotech map, and its time deliberately, arriving just weeks before BioEurope.

0:51To unpack what happened in Riyadh, what it means for Saudi Arabia's biotech ambitions, and how the summit connects to the conversations happening at BioEurope, I'm joined by Abdulaziz Al-Dayel, a nanomedicine researcher at the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center. He's going to tell us exactly what went on at RGMBS in 2026. Abdulaziz, welcome to Beyond Biotech. Thank you, Dylan. Glad to be here. Tell me a little bit about your background, your work in nanomedicine. What led you to this role that you have today with RGMBS? Sure. So I have a managerial role, which is the deputy chairman collaboration partnerships, connecting scientists together, working on really cool projects in biotech.

1:43But as a scientist, I'm an associate scientist in nanomedicine. And what led me to nanomedicine, I'm a big believer that nano is our body language. And I keep telling my student this, the graduate program of nanopharmaceutical, that nano is actually our body language. This is how our cells communicate through exosomes. Our immune cells communicate to other cells through the immunoglobulin. All of these are within nanosize. So it is fascinating. I think it's the future of medicine. What was it that actually drew you to biotech, to medical research in the first place? So to answer this, I'll have to go back 20 years ago.

2:33when I started my bachelor at the College of Medicine. Just want to be a doctor like a lot of people at the time. And it was in Australia. And I remember getting to the medical genetics course. And we had a really cool professor. I'm not sure if you hear us. Kevin, he spoke about his thesis. And it was about cancer genetics and all of these different mutations for cancer. And what they found is a lot of these mutations they didn't understand. Then we did the pathology afterwards. And a lot of rare genetic diseases, they said we don't have any cure for it because it's genetic. that was in 2007 where they thought a lot of the DNA 90 % of DNA is junk DNA we don't do anything with it so I was like no I had to step in as a young fresh petula student and I did my master's in biotechnology and that's when I learned about cloning gene editing and we did it in the in the lab.

3:53So it was really easy to do in the lab. And we would do the cloning perfectly, all of this. Then a professor came in from the US. I did my master at the Australian National University, one of the top universities in Australia. And when we had this visiting professor and talked about gene therapy, which is my interest, he said, we have three problems. I'm sure you've heard of delivery, delivery, delivery. And that's when I decided to do pharmaceutical. And the best in pharmaceutical are the US of A. And I did my PhD in pharmaceutical at the University of Texas at Austin to deliver RNAs using libidinato particle at the time.

4:41That was in 2012. And at the time, when we go to a lot of these meetings, whether it's APS or other scientific meetings, what was hot at the time is your traditional pharma, capsule, tablet, hotmail extrusions. We were at about 5 % to 10 % of all these meetings. but by the time when we started being on the market, like in COVID, now we're about 50 % to 60 % at the time they used to call us biologics, and now we're really the future of medicine. So that's basically my story. It's really fascinating for me how sometimes a problem that you see And you want to just shift your direction from just medicine to biotech.

5:44And now on top of the biotech, you're also involved in this great event. What's your day-to-day involvement with the summit actually like? So the summit, I actually started working on it about two years ago. And I was part of the organizing committee for the previous summit and this year's summit. So in terms of the summit, I work on partnerships. So all the deals that you see at RGMBS, we work on making sure that it happens during the summit, that we follow up, make sure that it's real. We also organize the life science innovation forum, which is the investment forum where a lot of startups come and compete during RGMBS.

6:35And we have some involvement with my colleagues at the different, it's actually a big committee. For example, the main program where we have the scientific program and His Excellency, the CEO, makes sure that this program is scientifically sound. We also have these short courses within the program where we actually go and meet with different universities and program in Europe and US and Japan and bring these cool courses to the summit. So my involvement was all over the place, but mainly through partnerships. Let's talk a little bit more about this event for people who maybe aren't familiar with it.

7:24How do you describe what RGMBS is actually setting out to achieve? What's it trying to do? Sure. I mean, to answer this, we need to go back to when it started, 2021. That was at the peak of COVID. And the idea, of course, during COVID, everyone witnessed that healthcare and biotech is a national security. You cannot just depend on other people. You need to do it yourself sometimes. And you need to do it with others. And that's where the collaboration is really important. So at the time, Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit was initiated and was online at the time. And the goal was vaccine and working together towards this big threat.

8:25And it was very successful. And this is when we decided to do the second edition, third, and the fourth this year. But what makes it really important is that we have now a strategy, a national strategy for biotechnology that was announced by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. And it had a clear plan for the biotech sector here. And the plan is to be a regional hub by 2030 and a global hub by 2040. And for us, we chose the word Riyadh because we really think that Riyadh has all the components to become that global hub. I believe that Riyadh now is a regional hub ahead of schedule.

9:18We have some of the best hospitals in the region. They always rank top hospital, whether it's King Faisal Specialist Hospital or National Guard Hospital Systems. And we have one of the best research center where we do our unique research projects like no other in the world. And we've been doing this for years. So I think having a focus on one city is really important. We've seen this with Boston, other plans for other countries. And that's where Riyadh came into the picture. Who's showing up to these events? What's a mix of people that you're actually attracting to Riyadh? So when it first started, it was mainly scientific vaccine, the first edition.

10:13But as it got involved and got bigger, now we're attracting global partners in terms of investors, in terms of manufacturers, in terms of even service provider clinical trials. and in terms of talent builders, educational universities and world-class institutions, and in terms of as well regulatory in Europe and Japan and the U.S. So if we're talking about this year's event, we have that focus on four pillars. These pillars are we have talent development. So we have a lot of universities, professors giving great scientific talks and specialized topics. We have investment pillar. So we have investors coming in to the summit as well as people seeking investment startups.

11:17We have the infrastructure pillar. So we have a lot of these big pharma or big, big company that comes for localization, that comes for R &D, building capabilities. And we have the fourth pillar, the regulatory, whether it's Saudi FDA or FDA, US FDA and so forth. Talking about this year's event, this is something, like you said, there's already been four editions now. What was it this year that you were aiming for in terms of scale, in terms of the ambition for the event? Sure. I think what was different this year from previous year, as you mentioned, this scale in terms of deals making. So last year, dealmaking was about$100 million.

12:15This year is more than$1.3 billion. So the scale just went up dramatically. And we're hoping that next edition will be much, much bigger. And this is in terms of investment. In terms of scientific programs, His Excellency, Dr. Bendelganawi is actually very interested in this scientific program. When we started making the scientific programs, he literally told us we don't want just general panels. We're over with general panels. We don't want people just come to talk. We're not interested in people just general talking. We want real scientific programs that are unique. So we had really unique scientific talks in biogravity, where we had the first Saudi astronauts doing some of the research in the space.

13:16We have the marine biotech with the Red Sea, where it's very unique. We have a collaboration between King Abdulaziz University and San Diego University. We have the localization gene therapy program, which we are very proud about at KMARC, King Abdul-Lunzal National Medical Research Center, part of the National Guard Health Affairs, which is a localization gene therapy program that was approved by His Royal Highness to localize gene therapy for rare genetic diseases in collaboration with AstraZeneca. That was actually part of the second summit. So it was announced in the second summit. Then this summit, we got the progress.

14:06We met scientists that went to Sweden, did some of that training there and doing the actual projects. we had a session as well in this year's summit about the heat stroke problem and research which we are leading at Kmart we have one of the scientists that just won the UNESCO award for his 30 years work on heat stroke because it was a problem here and I understand with global warming it's spreading to Europe and other part of the globe. So we have really tailored, carefully selected scientific program in addition to the big announcement that we had during this summit. You know, these sort of sessions are always incredible to hear about, and especially if you're on the floor to hear these sorts of people talking.

15:01But what about some surprises? Were there any conversations or connections that ended up going in a different direction, maybe a serendipitous one? Sure. I think there were a lot of surprises at RGMBS. And you would understand if you've been there, because it's really dynamic. Some of these surprises happen at the stage where There are surprise announcements that usually just happen there. For example, we have a big company called Likah or Vaccine. They announced a major infrastructure for vaccine development for 500 million riyals. And they had already a progress in terms of building capabilities and how many people they're going to employ and how many of these vaccine units are going to be produced in 2027.

16:04So in terms of announcement, there were really great surprises during the RGMBS, but also in terms of making deals. So, for example, sorry, in terms of making a scientific breakthrough. So, for example, some of the scientists and some of the invited speakers shared with us really fascinating results in terms of tumor microenvironment natural killer cells that can penetrate the solid tumor, which is really hard to do. And they showed us really, really great result. that was previewed for the first time at the summit. So there are some cool surprises, whether it's making deals or scientific and discovery breakthroughs.

16:59You know, it's one of the things that always makes the news after an event like this. And we've seen headlines just in the last week or so as well. A lot of reporting about agreements, the deal value that you mentioned coming out of the event this year. Can you put that into context for me? What does that actually mean on the ground? and what does it mean setting up for the next event? Sure. I think that's part of my job is to make sure that some of these deals, of course, you're not going to have 100 % going through, but some of these deals go through. A lot of these deals are localization deals.

17:35For example, GLP, one with Nordisk, And we have some of these localization with Boston Oncology as well for some of these important drugs in the region. So it would become a global hub in terms of delivering manufacturing, delivering these drugs to the region, as well as making sure that these deals follow through. As soon as the summit ended, we actually went for a visit to our site and connected one of these groups to our scientists to start working on projects. So whatever is announced, we work on day one to make sure it becomes a reality. And we have a dedicated team to follow through for our announcement as Kmart.

18:36But also, we make sure that whatever is being announced, we get an update. We update our listeners or people who attend the summit during the next summit that, hey, this was signed. Just like the one I told about AstraZeneca. This is the progress. It is really happening. And this is how we make sure that whatever is signed is being led to an impact. Because I guess that's part of the challenge, right? You've got this great event and everybody's there and everybody's motivated, but then you have this larger biotechnology plan and strategy that you've got to execute against. How important is that follow-up stage?

19:22It's extremely important. are really, it is extremely important. What we, a lot of people come and ask us, what's the difference between RGMBS and all the other events that's, you know, in the healthcare sector, you know, conferences happening in the region? And what we told them is at RGMBS, it is an impact-led summit. So whatever happened is actually, or whatever is produced during the summit, you can actually see it happening because it is a summit under the Pantourage of His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. And whatever we produce or we announce, we make sure to our fullest that it get implemented in the system.

20:12And it is very difficult to make sure that all of these announcements get implemented about what we did as a summit organizer. If you make an announcement and you follow through and there's a success, like what we have with the AstraZeneca, for example, project, we dedicate a full session in the BAME program for this project for you to explain what you did, for you to share the successes. And we found it really effective. people tend to like to have this update and share the update of their projects in the main program so we have some strategies that we communicate with the with the people that sign deals that hey if there's a real progress we will shine the light on you the next summit and make sure that you get the treatment that you deserve.

21:17You know, you mentioned that this is a big regional event, but the next big event that comes up for a lot of people listening in our audience is BioEurope. It's really only about a month away when this episode comes out. With BioEurope coming up in Cologne in November, how do you see your event and BioEurope complementing each other? so uh bio bio europe and uh and rgmbs are really uh important in terms of scale uh so what i what i understand about bio europe is really bringing all these uh great european innovation together all the other companies all the startups and this is exactly what rgmbs is trying to do at a regional space in the first place than at the global space.

22:09So I think we have the same and the shared goals. And a lot of actually our partners, European partners, will be participating in BiEurope. I'd like to mention LeapUp, which are a really great, great partner from Germany, by Saxon and they help us in terms of bringing these programs in the summit and what we would like to do is go to BioEurope, see if we can find other partners as well to participate at the next summit as well as we participate at BioEurope. We did the same thing with BioUSA This year we went there, we did the affiliated event for RGMBS, and we would like to do similar things.

22:59We actually got an invite from BYU USA, and we're hoping to get an invite from BYU to do the same thing and get people to know about RGMBS. Because what I think about RGMBS is West meeting the East and the Middle East. it's really a cool event to attend and has similar energy to Bayou Europe and Bayou US and Bayou Japan as well So if you're talking to someone attending one of these events or a European, North American, biotech exec if they're weighing up whether to include Riyadh in their conference calendar what's your pitch? What's your argument to people like that to get them to come to Saudi?

23:45I think it's about investing in the future, truly. If you think about us as a, I'm just going to talk numbers, the populations in the West are declining. and if you look at one of the most active regions in terms of younger population right now is Africa and one of the places where there's high development in terms of logistically can get closer to Africa to all these different countries within the region with high population is Saudi Arabia. For me, it is about investing in the future. We have the perfect environment in terms of talent. We have a great talent that was trained in the best universities in the U.S., Europe, and Japan and all of Asia.

24:50We have the investments. We are a friendly investment country. We have a regulatory body that's very regulated. However, it supports innovation. So that's where you have that right balance of a different institution and one place that can reach out to a different market where you need to expand. I think they should definitely consider coming to RGMBS. I really believe seeing is not like hearing. So you've got to come and see for yourself and see what I'm telling you right now with your own eyes. And you will believe that your next move will be to come to RGMBS and do some collaboration partnerships here in Saudi Arabia.

25:49You know, one of the things I hear a lot from biotech, from pharma execs when we talk to them on the show is that, you know, there's no deal that's made in just one meeting. You need these multiple touch points. You need to be in touch at the start of the year. You need to hit them again in the summer. You need to get them again by Europe at the end of the year. You know, there's a real place where RGMBS can be another one of these conversation touch points. You're attracting the big pharma firms. They're all going to Saudi. Is that an argument we could use with biotechs as well to say you should be there talking about the work that you're doing?

26:23Absolutely. I mean, you bring a really good point in terms of you need to do multiple trips to visit all the different parties within Saudi Arabia. But what if there is a one summit where you could meet all these different executives, all these different decision makers to make a deal or at least initiate a deal? So what we have actually during RGMBS, we have a really cool part or segment within RGMBS this year. It's called Executive Sessions, where it is at an executive level where different executives they meet. And these executives are from all over the world. and what they actually argue about or talk about is a real issue, real problem, whether it's in biotech in Saudi Arabia or in the region or around the world.

27:22And they argue for one hour or they discuss for one hour. And what they end up having is a recommendation that will be sent to higher management. And what we believe in is we can learn from you as much as you can learn from us. So this is part of if you come here and get engaged, you might actually help set some of the regulation that you think is really important for a place like Saudi Arabia for you to come here and do your business. So please, if you're considering, should I come? Yes, you should. Just come and see it with your own eyes and you will believe it. Let's talk a bit about this next event that someone could come and see.

28:17What do you expect to see changing? What do you expect to see growing for the next edition of the summit? Absolutely. So I can tell you about the previous summit. So the previous summit, a lot of the announcement were government led and a lot of, you know, the first and second summit, I would say in terms of announcement, we have 90 percent or 80 percent by our institution, K-Mark. this year summit we're about 10 % of all these mega announcement and what we're hoping for is right now we're attracting all the localization in Saudi Arabia in terms of announcement and the big project but also become a regional hub so there is a big announcement or big localization and at the region whether it's in Egypt and Jordan, we would absolutely be happy to be a platform to support these projects, support these announcements.

29:24So I'm hoping for next additions is to become more regional and more global. We absolutely have some little announcement from startups outside of our region right now which is really cool but we wanted to get bigger in terms of scale we we truly would like to be a hub for celebrating great biotech celebrating great science we absolutely would love to have within our scientific program some of these breakthroughs i know no board after the the cancer vaccine success for Moderna. He gave a speech during this year's RGMBS. And what we're hoping for is a lot of CEOs and chairmen share some of these successes, share some of these outbreaks at RGMBS.

30:26Are you going to buy Europe yourself? Are you going to be there and talking to people? Yes, yes. So we are planning to go. We're waiting for the official invitation for our delegation to come. And once we receive it, we'll absolutely go there. I love meeting our European colleagues in Europe. We actually, this year at RGMBS, we had the German and the Spain pavilion. We would love to expand this to other European countries, whether it's Switzerland, France, UK. There is a huge potential for bringing all of these great startups and great technologies here in Saudi Arabia and see how we can actually build the biotech scene together, whether it's in Europe or in Saudi Arabia.

31:28How I see it is we're complementing each other for real. What we're doing right now, and this is why I tell our colleagues in Germany, we're looking for a true partnership. And what I'm seeing from Germany is a true partnership where we're both going through the same goal. We're both co-investing together, which is really important. We're going to build the future together. It is not we want to also contribute to the science. We don't want just to be a funding arm. Yes, we can help in terms of funding, but we want to contribute to the science. You need to come here and see some of the great science breakthrough that we have as well and work together towards one goal because this is what a true partnership is.

32:23So have you got a final thought for us then? For people who are getting ready right now to go to Cologne, they're getting ready for the meetings, they haven't heard about Saudi Arabia's biotech very much, it's not on their radar, what's a thought you can leave them with? The thought that I'm going to leave you with, well, first of all, safe travels, enjoy Cologne. It's a beautiful city. Hopefully you will meet us there and you will understand in terms of scalability, ambition, what we have in the kingdom and see how we can be partners. I think, I truly think it's a win-win situation. So if you have a minute, we could stop by and we could talk by Europe about our ambition, your ambition and see how we can work together.

33:19And please, for the next edition of RGMBS, feel free to register to come and enjoy the hospitality of Saudi Arabia and even visit some of the cool cities, whether it's the Red Sea or Ola. Enjoy your time in Saudi Arabia. Abdulaziz, thanks for joining us today on Beyond Biotech. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me and looking forward to seeing you guys in Bayeurope and Riyadh. That's it for this episode. Don't forget to check out all the latest news and analysis at labiotech.eu. I hope wherever you are in the world, you have a great week ahead. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us again next time for another Beyond Biotech.

34:15Thank you.