|
 For Microsoft co-founder Gates, launch of the Diagnostics
Accelerator program follows an announcement in November of a
personal investment of $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund, a
venture capital fund aimed at bringing together industry and
government to seek treatments for the brain-wasting disease.
The effort, Gates said, was fueled in part by his personal
experience with family members struggling with Alzheimer's.
The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's affects nearly 50
million people worldwide and is expected to rise to more than 131
million by 2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International.
Gates and Lauder provided seed money for the diagnostics
collaboration through the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF),
which was founded by Lauder. They will be joined by other
philanthropists, including the Dolby family and the Charles and
Helen Schwab Foundation.
Funding provided through the initiative will be open to scientists
and clinicians globally working in academic settings, charities and
biotechnology companies.
As a philanthropy vehicle, the ADDF Diagnostics Accelerator venture
will invest in riskier projects that may not have immediate
commercial return, the group said in a statement.
Drugmakers have poured billions of dollars into scores of failed
attempts to produce a treatment that can arrest the ravages of
Alzheimer's, a fatal disease that robs people of their memories and
ability to care for themselves.
[to top of second column] |
Many experts believe drug trials have failed in part because
treatments were tested in people whose brains were already too
damaged to benefit. They argue that drugs need to be tested early,
before the disease has caused noticeable declines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that it would
consider Alzheimer's drug trials based on biological markers rather
than clinical symptoms, paving the way for drugs to be tested far
earlier in the disease process. Currently, a brain scan or spinal
tap are the chief ways used to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer's,
although the most conclusive test remains an autopsy.
In a blog post https://b-gat.es/2KSN27u announcing his investment,
Gates painted a picture of a future where diagnosing Alzheimer’s
would be "as simple as getting your blood tested during your annual
physical."
"Research suggests that future isn’t that far off," Gates said.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
