The UK government has announced £49.9 million to expand the number of dementia research sites across the country, with the aim of giving far more people the chance to join clinical trials. The money will be used by the Dementia Translational Collaboration Trials Network, an initiative run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to widen access to early phase trials.
Early phase trials are the stage at which experimental treatments are first tested in people, and they have historically been concentrated in a handful of specialist centres. Dr Catherine Mummery, who will lead the initiative, said the goal is to speed up therapy development for dementia and to enable participation "regardless of location or demographic", positioning the UK as the "go-to" place for gold standard early phase trials. For families, the practical effect is that taking part may no longer depend on living within reach of a major research hospital.
The network will work alongside the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, a government initiative co-chaired by Alzheimer's Research UK chief executive Hilary Evans-Newton, to cut the time it takes to set up and run trials. Mummery said industry, researchers and people affected by dementia would all be vital to building a unified network of trial sites with the necessary expertise and capacity.
David Thomas, head of policy at Alzheimer's Research UK, welcomed the announcement, saying the investment "puts us on the right track" towards making the UK an attractive place to conduct clinical research. The funding addresses infrastructure rather than any single treatment - it does not by itself produce new drugs, but it determines how quickly and how widely candidate drugs can be tested.