UK government led $100 million venture capital to study dementia

Source: Biovalley 2015-03-18 recently, with the support of the British government and several pharmaceutical giants, the world's first venture capital investment dedicated to research and development, prevention and treatment of dementia was completed, with a total of US $100 million in venture capital The dementia research foundation is dedicated to dementia research and serves as a bridge between government and industry The companies involved in the investment are all pharmaceutical giants, including GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and EMI At a meeting in Geneva, the UK's health minister announced that effective treatments for Alzheimer's and other dementia would be found by 2025 The head of GlaxoSmithKline's R & D department said that the goal of completing this task by 2025 is too big However, the continuous investment will support the research ideas of academia and small pharmaceutical companies, so as to help speed up the research and development process This is indeed a difficult problem, but science is also constantly improving Now people have begun to study the mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases from the genetic level, and there are many opportunities in this area Venture capital has always been an important source of funding for high-risk early life science research, and this venture capital is the only one raised solely for the study of dementia so far This time, JPMorgan will act as the financial adviser of the British government The UK government said other interested institutions would also have the opportunity to participate in the next stage of research In addition to providing financial support, agencies also provide expert advice on early stages of research projects The UK Alzheimer's research centre will work with industry to provide intellectual support for the project If independent pharmaceutical companies want to participate in commercial R & D, they must bid in advance, and the funds from the bidding will be reinvested in research projects The UK government, as the leading agency of the whole project, has invested 22 million US dollars, GlaxoSmithKline has invested 25 million US dollars, Johnson & Johnson is 10 million US dollars, and the rest comes from other companies Dementia now affects 50 million people around the world, and according to the international Alzheimer's Association, a non-profit research organization, it will affect 135 million people around the world by 2050 At present, there is still no good way to control the progress of Alzheimer's disease The current drugs can only alleviate the symptoms