The World Alzheimer Report 2018, ‘The state of the art of dementia research: New frontiers’, brings together 21 of the global leading lights in all areas of dementia research.
Written by renowned journalist and broadcaster Christina Patterson (Time Magazine, The Guardian, The Sunday Times), this report tackles some of the complex questions surrounding dementia research. It looks at the hopes and frustrations and asks why there have been no major medical treatment breakthroughs for over 20 years.
The report looks at a broad cross section of research areas including basic science; diagnosis; drug discovery; risk reduction and epidemiology. With the continued absence of a disease modifying treatment, the report also features progress, innovation and developments in care research.
Some key recommendations from the report include:
- Increasing the scale of new research with the global ratio of publications on neurodegenerative disorders versus cancer at just 1:12
- A minimum 1% of the societal cost of dementia to be devoted to funding research in: basic science, care improvements, prevention and risk reduction, drug development and public health
- Encouraging innovation, the use of technology and entrepreneurship
- Involvement of people in low- and middle-income countries in the research process
