20.09.12
We must not give up on Alzheimer’s research, charity warns
Government investment is needed to ensure the pharmaceutical industry does not “retreat” from research into new drugs to treat dementia, a national charity has stated.
Alzheimer’s Research UK has raised concerns that the disappointing results from recent trials must not be allowed to slow the search for treatment.
There are an estimated 800,000 people in the UK with dementia, of which the majority has Alzheimer’s disease, and one in three people over 65 will die with dementia.
Science director of Alzheimer’s Research UK, Dr Eric Karran, said: “If you’re running a business and you have options to find important new medicines in cancer, in diabetes or in neuroscience inevitably I think you have to place your bets where ultimately you will get a better chance of a return on your investment.
“Now is certainly not the time to be giving up. But we need to accept that this is a challenging area and really bring all of our resources together from the pharmaceutical industry, from academia and from government, to tackle it.”
The APBI said that over 200 medicines were currently in various stages of development for the disease.
Stephen Whitehead, chief executive of APBI said: “The industry continues to address unmet medical need in Alzheimer's as well as other neurodegenerative diseases, which are serious health challenges facing all societies with ageing demographics.”
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