£30m boost aims to address ‘desperate’ lack of dementia treatments
A network of dementia research centres is being launched with £30 million in funding to find a cure for the disease.
Alzheimer’s Research UK, the world’s largest dedicated dementia research charity, said the move would help to address the “desperate lack of effective treatments for those with the condition”.
The Drug Discovery Institutes will involve 90 new research scientists focusing on fast-tracking the development of ways of dealing with the condition, which affects more than 830,000 people in the UK and is set to get worse.
The charity said that although increased awareness in recent years had led to small increases in research funding, it has been 12 years since the last treatment for dementia was licensed in the UK.
The charity’s director of research, Dr Eric Karran, said: “Academic research is a goldmine of knowledge about diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and by tapping into the innovation, creativity, ideas and flexibility of scientists in these universities, we can re-energise the search for new dementia treatments.
“Working in universities and hospitals alongside people affected by dementia and their families, academic researchers are best placed to take research breakthroughs and progress them into real world benefits for the people that so desperately need them.
“The Drug Discovery Alliance is one of the first of its kind for dementia research in the world.”
The three flagship institutes will be based at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and UCL (University College London), and will be dedicated to early-stage drug discovery.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Dementia can be a devastating condition and I am committed to doing all that we can to help the thousands of people who live with it.
“These world-leading institutes will bring new hope to people with dementia by boosting innovation and increasing collaboration so that we can achieve our aim of finding a cure or disease-modifying therapy.”
Alzheimer’s Research UK said the condition costs the UK economy £23 billion a year.
A recent study by the charity found that women are hit hardest by dementia, with more than half a million affected.
The illness is not only the leading cause of death among British women, but they are are also far more likely to end up as carers for others with the disease.
Women over 60 are now twice as likely to get dementia as breast cancer, the charity said last week.
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