With an ever-increasing proportion of the global population reaching old age, dementia has been described as a ‘global disaster waiting to happen’, with the number of cases expected to reach 135 million by 2050.
But in a market worth an estimated US$20bn, according to Deutsche Bank, the R&D pipeline of new therapies is emptier than might be expected. A number of high-profile drugs trials failures in recent years seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of many Big Pharma firms to pursue this complex but potentially lucrative area.
Described as a ‘major step forward’, UK scientists have identified a set of proteins in the blood that can predict the start of dementia with 87% accuracy, thereby opening the way for the development of a test to enable earlier identification of patients for dementia research. This in turn could improve the accuracy of clinical trials and take some of the financial risk out of developing possible treatments.
The announcement coincided with the start of a £100m ‘Defeat Dementia’ campaign in the UK, following on from last December’s G8 Dementia Summit which called for greater investment in research and partnership working. The new five-year campaign – led by Alzheimer’s Research UK – aims to grow the research field and accelerate progress towards new treatments and preventions by bringing together research from academia, biotechs, and SMEs and large pharma companies.
The disease already costs the world $604bn each year; even a five-year delay in the onset of dementia could cut the number of people living with the disease by between a third and a half, with massive economic savings. In the UK, spending on cancer research is eight times greater than on Alzheimer’s, but the cost to the economy of dementia is twice as high as that of cancer.
Slowing the disease – never mind curing it or preventing it – is still a distant goal, but at least it may no longer be out of sight.