The UK DRI welcomes the new Parliamentary report, “Fuelling the Moonshot”, which calls on the Government to confirm funding for the UK DRI for the next ten years. Produced by a cross-party group of MPs and Peers in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society, today's (8 Sept) report is the culmination of a detailed inquiry run by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Dementia, which received evidence from experts and organisations in the field of dementia research. The report makes a case for how the Government’s promised ‘Dementia Moonshot’ funding should be spent to best support research into dementia and neurodegeneration.
The APPG on Dementia is composed of Members of the Commons and Lords who work in partnership with UK DRI Founding Funder Alzheimer’s Society to conduct inquiries and influence policymaking on dementia. For this report, the APPG received evidence from a range of people and organisations involved in dementia research or affected by dementia, including the UK DRI. In particular, the group heard oral evidence from Prof Bart De Strooper, UK DRI Director, and Prof David Sharp, Centre Director at the UK DRI Care Research & Technology Centre based at Imperial College London and the University of Surrey. They also received written evidence from Prof Joanna Wardlaw, UK DRI Group Leader at the University of Edinburgh.
In their 2019 election manifesto, the Conservative Party promised to double dementia research funding to over £1.6 billion over the next ten years, but have yet deliver on this pledge. The APPG report argues for this to be brought forward urgently, and gives recommendations on how additional funding should be allocated. Important both for the UK DRI specifically, and the wider dementia research community as a whole, these include: guaranteed funding for the UK DRI for the next ten years; establishing a fund to support early careers researchers (ECRs) in dementia research; and funding the development of early diagnostics as well as technology to support people living with dementia and their carers.
Funding for the UK DRI
Dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK. To develop effective treatments against the neurodegenerative diseases responsible dementia, significant funding is needed for dementia research. However, the report argues that the current funding from Government needs to be increased. To provide perspective, while cancer research is provided £269 million of government funding each year, dementia research receives just £83 million. Additional funding is therefore required to help bridge the gap.
Importantly, funding discovery science drives the development of treatments and diagnostics. Through greater understanding of the biological mechanisms behind neurodegeneration and dementia, researchers can identify more relevant drug targets. In line with this, the APPG report highlights the importance of continued funding for the UK DRI for the next ten years. Through its discovery science, the UK DRI will advance the current understanding of neurodegeneration and dementia to feed the pipeline to diagnostics and therapeutics. As Prof De Strooper described it:
“Dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK, but research into the neurodegeneration that causes it is still underfunded compared to other diseases. The additional investment recommended in this report for the UK DRI would be transformative of our work.”
