Eisai and the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) have announced the launch of a joint post-doctoral programme to support the advancement of novel dementia research.
The collaboration will draw together world-leading expertise into a single national institute that conducts research into all aspects of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, and Huntington’s disease. Under the joint programme, a grant will be provided to post-doctoral researchers engaged in dementia research from 2019 to 2023.
The UK DRI will contribute its state-of-the-art research facilities and Eisai will provide its drug discovery and translational expertise, which will support the work of the organisation in striving to elucidate novel drug discovery targets and mechanisms, develop novel dementia models, and accelerate the linkage of these research results to diagnostics, treatment and care.
“Eisai is delighted to be able to initiate this joint programme with the UK DRI, the world’s largest dementia research institute,” said Dr Teiji Kimura, chief discovery officer of the Eisai Neurology Business Group.
He continued, “As the UK DRI’s first joint programme with a private company, this programme is a highly unique attempt to provide an environment in which post-doctorate researchers engaged in the world’s latest dementia research in the UK will be able to demonstrate the full potential of their capabilities. Under this programme, we hope to realise groundbreaking ideas that can be connected with dementia treatment.”
There are an estimated approximately 50 million dementia patients worldwide, and as the ageing of the global population gathers pace, the number of dementia patients worldwide is expected to follow this trend, with the total number of people with dementia projected to reach 82 million in 2030 and 152 million in 2050.
