Multimillion major new funding for developing and delivering solutions for people with dementia

• The UK Dementia Research Institute has received major new Government funding to boost translational research into dementia.
•  The UK-wide research institute will receive an initial £20m from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to accelerate translation of its world-leading discovery science into therapeutic impact. 
• The funding will enable new national and international research collaborations, to generate new scientific insights from diverse cohort datasets, which will inform early diagnosis strategies, ensure novel research solutions work for all, and help reduce brain health inequities.
• The institute will also deliver new research training programmes for clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals, to ultimately benefit people living with or at risk of dementia.

The UK Dementia Research Institute has today announced multimillion major new government funding to “supercharge” advances in research and develop and deliver new solutions for people living with or at risk of dementia and related neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease. This will include training the next generation of “delivery scientists and health practitioners” in dementia, and new AI and data initiatives to accelerate the discovery of new therapies.

Almost a million people are currently living with dementia in the UK, but there are still no treatments available on the NHS to slow or stop the diseases that cause it.

The UK-wide research institute will receive an initial £20m from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to accelerate the translation of new scientific discoveries into therapeutic impact for people living with dementias.

With the UK’s ageing population, the institute says there is an urgent need to capitalise on scientific progress to safeguard the nation’s health and protect public services. The number of dementia cases has been projected to rise to 1.4 million by the year 2040, at a cost of £90bn per year to the economy. However, the UK Dementia Research Institute’s Director, Professor Siddharthan Chandran, says we are finally beginning to make meaningful breakthroughs that will be pivotal and transformative for the UK as we strive to maintain brain health for all in our ageing society.

“This far-sighted investment will be catalytic in helping accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into therapeutic impact. After many false dawns, the field is on the cusp of major breakthroughs and we will move from late and imprecise diagnosis with no effective disease-slowing therapies to precision diagnosis and the first wave of therapies.”  

Scientists at the UK Dementia Research Institute conduct globally leading research to understand the causes, consequences and treatment for dementias and related neurodegenerative conditions. This investment will drive further cross-sector partnerships that will help position the UK as a world leader in innovation, discovery and translation for dementia and related neurodegenerative disorders.

Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock said:

“This is an important step towards putting Britain at the forefront of transforming treatment for dementia and other conditions like Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease.

“We want a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.

“That is why we will transform our broken NHS from a late diagnosis, late treatment health service, to one that catches illness earlier.”

The new funding will also enable the institute to bring together rich human data, both in the UK and internationally. Working with global partners, UK Dementia Research Institute scientists will collaborate to gain broader insights from data from human studies across the globe, ensuring the research is representative of the global population to allow a deeper understanding of the diseases that cause dementia across diverse populations and helping to reduce brain health inequities. These new international partnerships will create rich new avenues for global knowledge exchange, and enable a greater understanding of how neurodegenerative diseases impact all members of society.

Chief Scientific Adviser, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Professor Lucy Chappell said:

“With the UK’s aging population, dementia continues to be a crucial area of research in our country and it is essential we develop strategies to diagnose early and treat this disease effectively.

“The UK Dementia Research Institute is a global leader in this area and I’m proud that NIHR funding is going towards world-leading research into tools and therapeutics that will make a real, tangible difference to lives."