Prime Minister David Cameron announced that there would be an increase in funding for dementia research at yesterdays G8 Dementia Summit.
He wants the UK government investment in dementia research to double from £66m in 2025 to £122m in 2025.
He also announced three new investments for research in the life sciences. The first is that the Medical Research Council will be spending £150 million more on clinical infrastructure for dementia and genomics. The second is that the Belgian biopharmaceutical company UCB have saved £3million due to the new R&D tax credit. The third is that GlaxoSmithKline will be investing a further £200million in UK life sciences on top of the £500million they invested last year.
Mr Cameron has set the aim of finding a cure or a disease-modifying therapy by 2025. This will be achieved with the increased spending on dementia research and creating an action plan on how the G8 countries will work together to fill the gaps in dementia research.
Every two years a report will be released on expenditure on publicly funded national dementia research and related research infrastructure. They also aim to increase the number of people involved in clinical trials for more accurate outcomes.
Addressing the press conference yesterday, Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt, said that 2025 was not so far away that a cure was not achievable.
In March 2014, the UK will hold another event on how to get greater investment and finance in innovative care.
The UK also announced the decision to appoint a global Dementia Innovation Envoy to draw together international expertise to encourage innovation and coordinate international efforts to attract new sources of finance with the possibility of developing a private and philanthropic fun to support global dementia innovation.