Dementia research in UK wins £22m in funding
Money will be split across 21 research projects
The UK Government is to boost dementia research by sharing £22m between 21 studies into the disease.
The funding, awarded by the National Institute of Health Research, covers all areas of scientific activity relevant to dementia, across the fields of care, cure and cause, including prevention.
One project is trialling the use of blood pressure drug Losartan to complement current treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Another aims to measure how much longer people with dementia can live safely and independently in their own homes when they are provided with a specialised telecare technology package including motion sensors, GPS trackers, and personal alarms.
This is a significant boost for dementia research and we are pleased to see a wide range of projects winning support
UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, visiting Eli Lilly’s UK dementia research centre, said the UK has a firm ambition to become a world leader in dementia research.
‘It is vital that we can translate the excellent work happening in our laboratories across the country into treatments that can help people live well with dementia today, whilst ultimately working towards finding a cure,’ he said.
More than 670,000 people in England are currently diagnosed with dementia, and an ageing population means that this figure will double over the next 30 years.
Alzheimer’s Research UK director of research Dr Eric Karran added: ‘This is a significant boost for dementia research and we are pleased to see a wide range of projects winning support.
‘UK research has the ability to deliver fundamental changes for people living with dementia now or at risk in future, through improved diagnosis, and, ultimately, better treatments that delay or slow down disease progression.’