Digest

£30 million invested in dementia research The charity Alzheimer's Research UK ( www.alzheimersresearchuk.org ) has invested §30 million over the next five years with the aim of attracting world‐leading dementia researchers to the UK. The funding will support research programmes in a Drug Discovery Alliance, comprising dedicated centres at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College, London. In a model borrowed from successful initiatives by cancer charities, they will pool expertise and work collaboratively to identify and develop candidate molecules, and it is hoped that other centres will join the alliance. Health leaders have pledged to find a disease‐modifying therapy for dementia by 2025. In a further move to emulate the success of cancer research, a novel hotline has been opened to recruit people with Alzheimer's disease to clinical trials. Adults (with or without dementia) who register their interest with Join Dementia Research ( www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk ) provide details that researchers can use to check for eligibility for trials. The initiative is funded by the Department of Health and NHS England.