Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, has entered into an agreement with US-based artificial intelligence and quantum technology firm SandboxAQ to accelerate drug development and create biotech assets valued at up to $1 billion.
The deal was announced during Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh and will see Mumtalakat license SandboxAQ’s advanced quantitative models, which are trained on physics, chemistry, and biology, to drive faster scientific research and pharmaceutical innovation.
According to a joint statement, the collaboration aims to establish Bahrain as a regional biotech hub through a three-year research programme overseen by a joint committee. The initiative is focused on developing new therapies and expanding the kingdom’s role in global biotechnology innovation.
The project will leverage Bahrain’s digital health datasets and hospital infrastructure to develop new treatments, with clinical trials expected to take place in the country. Hidary also noted that SandboxAQ is in talks with other Gulf nations about similar collaborations.
Earlier this year, Saudi Aramco signed an agreement with SandboxAQ to use its AI models to enhance the value of downstream products, highlighting growing regional interest in advanced computational technologies.
