We're delighted to join forces with The Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) on a new research accelerator partnership. The partnership, called D3A, will provide a series of awards, between £100,000 – £200,000, to support the translation of excellent science into the clinic.
D3A will support important research projects with potential to create meaningful new medicines for dementia. It will identify, support and nurture early stage projects that will advance our capacity to treat or prevent dementia.
In June 2018, DDF announced the completion of its fundraising, with £250 million raised from an influential group of strategic investors committed to developing new medicines for dementia, making it the first and largest venture fund focused entirely on discovering and developing novel therapies for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Our new joint initiative aims to provide creative and entrepreneurial dementia researchers with the support they need to advance their projects from exciting ideas to commercial opportunities. The successful projects will benefit from D3A resources including funding, mentoring, business development and project guidance.
The D3A invites proposals from UK DRI centres and other academic UK-based research groups. The programme covers all forms of dementia and the focus in this call is on therapeutic targets and therapeutics.
We anticipate funding multiple applications in this first round and will launch further calls throughout 2019.
Full application details will follow soon, with first closing date in January 2019. Please visit the DDF website at www.theddfund.com
Angus Grant, CEO of Dementia Discovery Fund, said:
“Dementia is arguably the greatest single global healthcare challenge, soon affecting 50 million people worldwide at an estimated annual cost to the global economy of approaching a trillion dollars. The DDF continues to work to identify opportunities to invest in and advance innovative science from idea to the clinic. The launch of our new award, in collaboration with the UK Dementia Research Institute, is a further step in achieving this goal. DDF is ideally positioned to provide scientists with the funding and business support they need to take their projects through development with the potential, if successful, to form new companies in the future.”
Bart De Strooper, UK DRI Director, said:
“The UK Dementia Research Institute exists to improve our understanding of dementia and translate this knowledge into treatments and services that will improve lives. This huge task is possible when researchers, charities and for-profit initiatives come together. We are very happy to be working with the Dementia Discovery Fund to launch D3A, an exciting accelerator programme that will move our science closer to the clinic.”
David Reynolds, Chief Scientific Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“The UK Dementia Research Institute and the Dementia Discovery Fund are two of the largest and most innovative dementia research initiatives in the world. The complementary strengths of these initiatives means that this partnership can provide the funding, business expertise, and scientific excellence needed to translate promising research findings into new medicines that can change people’s lives. Alzheimer’s Research UK is a founding funder of both the UK DRI and the DDF, and this collaboration is a fantastic example of how a diverse and vibrant research landscape is coming together to take on the biggest challenges in dementia research.”
