Parexel says 56% biotech mix and India growth could shift UAE pharmacy demand

Parexel expects renewed biotech funding and its expanding India base to support growth, a signal UAE pharmacy operators and insurers should read as a pipeline story rather than a local retail story.

The highest-stakes readers are pharmacy owners, insurer pharmacy-benefit teams and clinic COOs. The point for Dubai is practical: more biotech-funded development can mean more biosimilars, specialty medicines and trial-linked therapies seeking UAE registration, pricing and reimbursement. Dubai Health Authority (DHA) regulates Dubai health facilities, Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH) regulates Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) covers the northern emirates.

What Parexel said

In a Moneycontrol interview published on 1 October 2026, Parexel chief operating officer Rob Goodwin said biotech clients are returning after a funding slowdown linked to Covid, higher financing costs and geopolitical uncertainty.

"We are seeing high single-digit to double-digit growth now in the biotech space," Rob Goodwin, chief operating officer, Parexel, told Moneycontrol.

S&P Global, cited by Moneycontrol, estimated Parexel revenue at about $4.8 billion in 2025, equal to roughly AED 17.6 billion at the UAE dollar peg. Biotech accounts for about 56% of Parexel's business. Parexel has about 22,000 employees globally, with India representing about one-third of staff.

India now has more than 6,200 Parexel employees. Sanjay Vyas, managing director of India and president of patient safety services and clinical logistics at Parexel, said India could exceed 8,000 employees by 2030. Parexel also acquired Vitrana, adding 126 employees and more technology capacity for safety, regulatory and clinical services.

Why UAE operators should care

For UAE pharmacies and clinic groups, the India signal matters because Indian pharmaceutical companies already have scale in generics and biosimilars. Moneycontrol reported that clinical trial applications in India rose from about 80 to more than 200 over five years, with biosimilars still central and new chemical entities appearing in respiratory, ophthalmology and infectious disease programmes.

That does not mean a medicine will reach Dubai or Abu Dhabi quickly. UAE operators should track three gates before changing purchasing assumptions:

• Product registration: check the Emirates Drug Establishment drug directory for active UAE registration status.
• Price evidence: companies can request official UAE price lists through EDE services; public retail assumptions should not replace registered price evidence.
• Coverage rules: verify plan-level reimbursement with payers such as Daman, Thiqa and Sukoon where those plans apply to the patient and facility.
• Trial governance: DOH says Phase I-IV clinical trials and pharmaceutical-sponsored studies in Abu Dhabi require review through the Abu Dhabi Health Research and Technology Committee pathway.

The impact on patients is access and substitution. A biosimilar can reduce treatment cost only when it has UAE registration, a listed price, physician acceptance and payer coverage. A clinic pharmacy should keep this as a formulary workflow, not a marketing claim.

What to watch in the UAE

Dubai operators should first watch DHA-licensed clinic pharmacies and high-volume outpatient specialties such as ophthalmology, respiratory medicine and oncology. Abu Dhabi operators should watch DOH research approvals because trial activity can create early institutional familiarity with new therapies. In Sharjah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain, MOHAP licensing and EDE product registration will set the practical boundary for dispensing.

India's proposed Rs 10,000 crore Bio-Shakti programme, cited by Moneycontrol, includes efforts to create 1,000 certified clinical trial sites. If that capacity materialises, UAE procurement teams should expect more Indian-origin dossiers and more requests from manufacturers for formulary meetings, real-world evidence partnerships and specialty distribution.

The near-term action is modest. Pharmacy leaders should build a monthly watchlist of India-origin biosimilars and specialty medicines in the EDE directory, map payer coverage by plan, and ask manufacturers for UAE registration certificates before discussing shelf placement. Patients should confirm licensed dispensing locations through the UAE Open Healthcare Directory, which lists licensed pharmacy providers across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and the northern emirates.