Government must triple dementia research funding or pay price, warn scientists
Press release: 21 July 2009
A University of Manchester scientist has joined 30 of the UK's other leading dementia researchers calling on the government to use today's ministerial summit on dementia research to end "years of under-funding".
Professor Alistair Burns is one of the signatories of an open letter calling for a threefold increase in investment into efforts to find new treatments, preventions and cures for Alzheimer's and other dementias.
The Alzheimer's Research Trust-coordinated campaign has the backing of two other charities: the Alzheimer's Society and Parkinson's Disease Society. The letter warns that the UK's "key weakness is lack of funding, not lack of talent".
The letter reads:
"Today (21 July) the government will hold a ministerial dementia research summit at the Royal Society. After years of under-funding, it is encouraging that dementia research is receiving serious attention.
"Within a generation, 1.4 million people in the UK will live with dementia, costing our economy £50 billion per year.
"Yet for every pound spent on dementia care, a fraction of a penny is spent on research into defeating the condition.
"Our key weakness is lack of funding, not lack of talent.
"The Government must use this summit to initiate a national dementia research strategy. Most importantly, it must commit to tripling its annual support for dementia research to £96 million within five years.
"If the government squanders this opportunity, we will all pay the price."
Prof Julie Williams, the letter's lead-author and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said:
"Week after week British dementia scientists come a step closer to understanding what causes dementia, and how this might be translated into new treatments. The government has a great opportunity to use today's summit to formulate a national dementia research strategy, offering hope to the 700,000 people in the UK who live with dementia.
"Despite the current squeeze in public finances, upping our investment in dementia research would be prudent. If we can work out how to delay the onset of dementia by five years, we could halve the number of people who die with the condition."
Today's dementia research summit, hosted by the health minister Phil Hope and chaired by Baroness Sally Greengross, brings together scores of leading scientists and people affected by dementia as the government reconsiders its approach to dementia research.
The MRC and Department of Health led event is widely seen as a response to criticism from charities, scientists and campaigners that the severe under-funding of dementia research has not been dealt with adequately, despite the enormous increase in dementia in the UK and worldwide.
Ends
Notes to editors:
The 31 signatories are:
- Prof Alistair Burns, University of Manchester
- Prof Julie Williams, Alzheimer's Research Trust
- Prof Clive Ballard, Alzheimer's Society
- Dr Kieran Breen, Parkinson's Disease Society
- Prof John Hardy FRS, Institute of Neurology
- Prof Peter St George-Hyslop FRS, University of Cambridge
- Prof Simon Lovestone, Institute of Psychiatry
- Prof Robin Jacoby, University of Oxford
- Prof David Brooks, Imperial College London
- Prof Seth Love, University of Bristol
- Prof Steve Iliffe, University College London
- Prof Rajesh Kalaria, Newcastle University
- Prof Lawrence Whalley, University of Aberdeen
- Prof Anne Rosser, University of Cardiff
- Prof Roy Jones, Research Institute for the Care of Older People (RICE), Bath
- Dr Richard Wade-Martins, University of Oxford
- Dr Karen Horsburgh, University of Edinburgh
- Dr Stephen Gentleman, Imperial College London
- Dr Diane Hanger, Kings College London
- Prof Kevin Morgan, University of Nottingham
- Prof Nigel Hooper, University of Leeds
- Prof Nick Fox, University College London
- Prof James Fawcett, University of Cambridge
- Prof David Smith, Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA)
- Dr Maria Grazia Spillantini, University of Cambridge
- Prof Esme Moniz-Cook, University of Hull
- Prof James Nicoll, University of Southampton
- Prof John Young, Bradford Institute of Health Research
- Dr Michel Goedert FRS, University of Cambridge
- Dr David Dawbarn, University of Bristol
- Prof John O'Brien, Newcastle University
The Alzheimer's Research Trust press office (01223 843304) can arrange interviews with people affected by dementia.
The Alzheimer's Research Trust provides free information on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: phone 01223 843899. The charity relies solely on public donations to fund its research.
Further information
Andrew Scheuber or Tim Parry
Press Officers
The Alzheimer's Research Trust
Tel: 01223 843304, 07748 272171 or 07795 823308
Email: press@alzheimers-research.org.uk
Or
Aeron Haworth
Media Officer
The University of Manchester
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 8383
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk