R&D tax credits for life sciences.
From medical-device makers to digital-health and biotech teams, UAE life-sciences companies are resolving real scientific uncertainty. That work is often strongly qualifying for the R&D Tax Credit — the discipline is proving precisely which part.
How qualifying R&D shows up in life sciences.
The UAE regime tests every project against the five OECD Frascati criteria. Here is what each looks like on a line, in a cell, or in a new process.
Novel
A device, method or therapy aimed at new scientific knowledge.
Creative
Original hypotheses, not routine application of known technique.
Uncertain
Whether a mechanism, device or method works is genuinely unknown.
Systematic
Planned, documented experiments and validation.
Transferable
Results reproducible and generalisable, not one-off.
The kind of work that qualifies.
Illustrative projects across upstream, downstream and the energy transition. Eligibility is always confirmed project by project.
Medical device development
A line achieving tolerance, yield or throughput no known process reaches.
Clinical-grade algorithms
A digital-health algorithm validated to clinical performance on new data.
Formulation & bioprocess
Formulation or bioprocess work to make a therapy stable, scalable or deliverable.
Novel assays
Assay or biomarker development where the method itself is uncertain.
Health data integration
Integrating clinical and genomic data in ways existing platforms cannot support reliably.
Design for approval
Engineering a device or process to meet a regulatory bar that demands genuine technical development.
Genuine R&D, not routine engineering.
The value we add is drawing this line correctly — claiming what qualifies, and defending it, while leaving out what does not.
- Resolving scientific uncertainty about whether a device, method or therapy works.
- Systematic experimentation, validation and iteration.
- Formulation, bioprocess or assay development with uncertain outcomes.
- Engineering clinical-grade performance beyond current capability.
- Routine clinical administration and standard trial logistics.
- Applying an established, validated method without uncertainty.
- Cosmetic changes to an existing, approved device.
- Market access and reimbursement analysis with no technical uncertainty.
£50M+
claimed across 450+ UK companies with a 100% audit success record — including complex, engineering-heavy claims in energy and industrials. The same chartered method now applies to the UAE.
“Simplified the R&D claim process completely. Their expertise in life sciences made all the difference.”
Ducentis BioTherapeutics — life sciences client
A UAE life-sciences case study will feature here as claims complete under the new regime.
Do clinical trials qualify?
The administration and logistics of a standard trial usually do not. But experimental work to resolve scientific uncertainty — whether a mechanism, device or method actually works — frequently does. We separate the two carefully.
We develop software for healthcare. Which side is it on?
It depends on the uncertainty. Building a clinical-grade algorithm whose performance is genuinely unknown can qualify; standard application development around it does not.
Is regulatory work eligible?
The paperwork itself is not. But engineering a device or process to meet a regulatory performance bar, where achieving it required uncertain technical development, can form part of a qualifying project.
What evidence will we need?
Contemporaneous records: the scientific uncertainty, the experiments and validation done to resolve it, and project-level cost and staff-time allocation. We build this as the work happens — and pre-approval is mandatory before claiming.
Making things here? Let’s find what qualifies.
We assess your projects against the five criteria, handle pre-approval, and build the evidence — before a single figure is claimed.
