Alzheimer's: The fight against dementia has gone global

A global Dementia Discovery Fund, backed by some of the world’s leading drug makers, has been announced today with full support from the British government.

Announced by health minister Jeremy Hunt, at a meeting in Geneva, the Fund was made possible thanks to a 2013 G8 commitment to find a cure or effective treatment for dementia by 2025, as well as the support of Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Biogen Idec, together with financial advice from JP Morgan.

As the health secretary explains: “Dementia is a global threat and we have taken enormous steps in putting this condition on the international health agenda. But there is still much more we need to do to give people with dementia hope for the future.

“That’s why I am delighted to say today that Alzheimer’s Research UK has committed to develop this Fund to make sure that innovative research turns into new drug development. Between us I am confident we can make significant steps in our fight against dementia.”

Welcoming the development, president of worldwide research and development at Pfizer, Mikael Dolsten, comments: “As part of our ongoing commitment to advancing Neuroscience, Pfizer is proud to join the Dementia Discovery Fund and its efforts to accelerate the potential discovery of new therapies for devastating neurological diseases.

“We are seeing important scientific momentum in advances that are helping us unravel the underlying molecular disease pathophysiology of dementia and other neurological conditions, and cross-sector collaboration is a critical success factor to deliver unique and transformative potential therapies for patients.”

Alzheimer’s Research UK have been quick to praise the announcement, with head of policy Dr Matthew Norton saying, “Alzheimer’s Research UK is delighted to be part of this unique and innovative initiative, a world first for dementia research. The Discovery Fund will bring much needed new money into dementia research, but importantly also represents a new way of doing things. It will ensure some of the best minds in commercial drug discovery focus their efforts on dementia, widening the breadth of focus in the area and increasing our chances of success.

“At Alzheimer’s Research UK we have developed a number of key strategic initiatives aimed at getting treatments to patients as quickly as possible and the Dementia Discovery Fund complements these. It will harness the combined expertise and resources of government, the private sector, and the leading dementia research charity to scour the globe for promising assets that offer the best chance of being turned into effective treatments.”