£150 million Dementia funding announced
“For far too long this terrible condition has been ignored, down-played or mistaken as a part of the ageing process. When the truth is – dementia is one of the greatest enemies of humanity.”
The UK’s first Dementia Research Institute is set to receive up to £150 million to deliver a step change in research and development to tackle the disease.
The institute will have a central UK hub, with links to universities across the country and will build on the centres of excellence in dementia already operating across the UK. The Medical Research Council will open a competitive process in the new year asking universities to come forward to host the institute itself and will lead the search for a director to head it.
The commitment to form a UK-based institute, was announced by the Prime Minister in his Challenge on Dementia 2020 in February – a long-term strategy focused on boosting research, improving care and further raising public awareness about the disease.
This follows a commitment from G8 health ministers to aim to identify a cure or a disease modifying therapy for dementia by 2025, with the first ever $100 million global Dementia Discovery Fund unveiled by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in March this year.
- Accelerate the pace of discovery research in order to boost drug development
- Attract new partnerships with the biopharmaceutical sector to develop new treatments and ways of diagnosing dementia
- Develop and promote strategies for interventions that prevent the development or progression of dementia