Janssen launches dementia prize
pharmafile | February 15, 2013 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Hunt, Janssen, NHS, dementia
Janssen has joined forces with the NHS to launch a scheme to financially reward solutions which can help the lives of people affected by dementia.
The progressive brain condition has been identified by health secretary Jeremy Hunt as one of the main challenges facing public health in the UK.
Janssen Healthcare Innovation, part of Janssen R&D, is putting up £150,000 for ways of making a ‘real and sustained difference’ for patients and carers.
The NHS innovation challenge prizes are now in their third year, and a dozen are currently open, but the new dementia one marks the first time a private sector company has been involved in this way with the NHS.
To determine the scope of the dementia challenge, Janssen is inviting doctors, patients and care groups to help identify the key issues around treatment, diagnosis and management of people with dementia.
Submissions must be in by 20 March, and once the priorities have been established, there will be a new call for innovative solutions to address them. A panel including NHS clinicians and managers and people from academia and industry will pick the winning entry or entries.
Around 800,000 people are currently living with dementia in the UK, at a cost of £23 billion in related health services each year. The number of people affected could reach 1.7 million in the UK by 2050, the Department of Health says.
“We hope this initiative will help identify forward-thinking solutions to help transform care for people with dementia and better support their caregivers,” said Marco Mohwinckel from Janssen Healthcare Innovation.
The government’s Challenge on Dementia, launched last year by prime minister David Cameron, has set out the NHS’s stall on the issue. In October the coalition sought to present the UK’s ‘unique offer’ in R&D to foreign investors, part of a bid to make the UK a world leader in dementia research.
The government has already promised that the research budget for dementia would be doubled to £66 million by 2015. And from April up to £54 million has been made available to hospitals in England that offer risk assessments on dementia to 90% of over 75-year-olds admitted as emergencies.
The DH is also running a campaign to focus on early signs of dementia awareness, where to get help and support, and how to make life easier for people with dementia and their families.
Adam Hill
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