UK on verge of new dawn for dementia treatments, says taskforce chair

Today’s generation of elderly people could be the last to face the spectre of untreatable Alzheimer’s disease, according to the co-chair of the government’s new dementia mission.

Hilary Evans, the chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, appointed by ministers last month, said the world was “on the cusp of a new dawn” for dementia treatments that meant devastating neurodegenerative illness would no longer be regarded as an inevitable part of old age.

However, she warned that an overhaul of NHS dementia care was required to ensure that patients could access the first effective Alzheimer’s drugs, which could be approved in the UK as soon as next year.

Evans was appointed last month to co-chair the UK government’s national dementia initiative, which aims to draw lessons from the Covid vaccine taskforce to accelerate dementia research and comes with a commitment to double funding for dementia research to £160m a year by 2024–2025.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 April 2023