Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Bio and US drugmaker Eli Lilly and Company have agreed to localize the packaging and logistics of Lilly’s GLP-1 medicines in the emirate, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said on Tuesday.
The partnership will be supported from a 125,000-square-meter site in KEZAD, Abu Dhabi, made up of packaging and warehousing facilities, according to the statement.
Lilly’s injectable weight-loss drug Mounjaro and its oral medicine Foundayo will be packaged in the UAE before being distributed across the region and further afield, Hamad Almarzooqi, Group Deputy Chief Executive of Mubadala Bio, told The National.
Almarzooqi and Nabil Daoud, President and General Manager of Lilly’s Intercontinental Hub, announced the agreement at the Abu Dhabi Future Health Summit. Dr. Fatima Al Kaabi, Director General of the Emirates Drug Establishment, and Dr. Bakheet Al Katheeri, Chairman of Mubadala Bio, witnessed the signing.
The packaging and logistics activities will be introduced in phases and will be subject to technical, quality and regulatory requirements, the statement said. It did not disclose financial terms.
Al Katheeri said the agreement would strengthen the UAE’s supply in key therapeutic areas and create high-value jobs.
The Emirates Drug Establishment approved Foundayo, known generically as orforglipron, for chronic weight management in April, making the UAE the second country to register the medicine. The UAE was an early launch market for Mounjaro, or tirzepatide, in August 2022.
Mubadala Bio was set up in May 2025 to strengthen medicine security in the UAE. Almarzooqi said most pharmaceutical products used in the country are imported.
