Boost for dementia research
pharmafile | November 9, 2009 | News story | | Alzheimer's, dementia
More funding will be made available for dementia research as a new ministerial group is created to champion the issue, putting it for the first time on a par with the search for cancer treatments.
The group also wants to strengthen the work that government does with commercial partners, such as the pharma industry.
Chaired by care services minister Phil Hope, who described dementia as having been “in the shadows for too long”, the group has been set up following the government’s dementia research summit in July.
This brought together a variety of experts to look at research priorities and the new move should give scientists greater access to chunks of existing budgets – something that Hope outlined at the summit.
“A cure for cancer is traditionally seen as the Holy Grail of medical science,” he said. “But in an ageing world where more and more of us will succumb to dementia, we need to view a cure for dementia in a similar light.”
Dementia is estimated to cost the economy £17 billion a year, with 700,000 sufferers in the UK rising to one million over the next decade.
A third of people over 65 will die with a form of the condition.
Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, called the group a “significant development”. “It has the potential to change lives,” he added.
Dementia research summit
One of the most pressing needs identified at the summit back in July was to develop biomarkers, particularly in terms of early detection and diagnosis.
There was also a call for greater priority to be given to disease modelling in animals – although the summit felt the UK regulatory environment hampered progress in this regard, and that the public still needed to be educated on the benefits of animal research.
In addition to making better use of funding and increasing public support, the group will push to give people with dementia better access to clinical trials and emphasise the need for research to lead to better treatment and care.
In February this year the government published its first National Dementia Strategy, aimed at increasing awareness of the disease, and improving diagnosis, intervention and care quality.
The government is putting £150 million over the first two years – £32 million of which went on research last year – behind headline proposals such as putting a dementia specialist in every hospital and care home.
The Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust have recently given another £30 million to help research into neurodegenerative diseases.
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