Volunteers have been invited to sign up and participate in a UAE clinical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine at a centre outside Abu Dhabi for the first time.
The testing facility is now open at the Al Qarain Health Centre in Sharjah and has a capacity to manage 500 volunteers per day.
It is open to residents of Sharjah and the neighboring emirates as trials continue to gather pace.
The Sharjah clinic is the second centre to open this week after a new facility was set up at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on August 2 to serve up to 1,000 vaccine volunteers a day.
Both centres will register volunteers for the programme after screening them.
Volunteers can visit the Sharjah centre from 8am until 8pm daily and will be given a shot of an inactive vaccine that contains a killed version of the virus that causes Covid-19.
“Allocating Al Qarain Health Centre as the first centre outside of Abu Dhabi to register, screen and test volunteers is yet another distinct contribution from the UAE,” said Abdulrahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention.
The UAE began the first globally recognised, last-phase clinical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine in Abu Dhabi on July 16.
This is the final step before a vaccine is approved for use among the public.
The Phase 3 clinical trial is being led by Abu Dhabi's health department in partnership with Group 42 and Chinese drug maker Sinopharm.
Nearly 5,000 people living in the the capital and Al Ain signed up in the first 24 hours, the Department of Health Abu Dhabi said on July 18.
Up to 15,000 volunteers are wanted for the trial and they must be in good health and between the ages of 18 to 60.
On Wednesday, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, chairman of the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, successfully received his second vaccine shot.
He volunteered as the first patient to test the vaccine last month.
Dr Jamal Al Kaabi, acting undersecretary of the department, who is overseeing the Phase 3 trial, was the second man to sign up for the programme.
Both men have received their second jab as part of the trial, in which volunteers must visit testing centres at least 17 times over roughly 42 days.
Volunteers cannot travel abroad during this time. After the trial, they should be available for regular phone consultations for up to six months.
Volunteers for the Abu Dhabi trial can register at 4humanity.ae or by calling 02 819 1111.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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