Major new dementia research commitment outlined by government

The government has announced a new drive to discover new drugs and treatments for dementia in the UK.

Prime minister David Cameron has made a pledge that British researchers will work to slow down the onset of dementia or even deliver a cure by 2025, following the launch of the world's biggest study group for dementia and a new 100 million pound research campaign.

UK scientists will aim to bring forward specific proposals on patent extensions, earlier access to new drugs for patients, greater research collaboration and facilitating high levels of investment by October this year.

Meanwhile, the new World Dementia Envoy Dr Dennis Gillings has offered a warning that if global leaders do not offer businesses incentives to invest in research and accelerate clinical trials, the goals of this new strategy will not be met.

Mr Cameron said: "We need to join up the dots and create a big, bold global push to beat this. It will take years of work but we have shown with other diseases that we can make progress."

This comes after the UK Dementias Research Platform, a major new public-private research project, was launched by the Medical Research Council, backed by 16 million pounds of funding.