Innovate UK has awarded ten new projects over £6m in funding to identify, develop and commercialise biomarker clinical tools and technologies for dementia and neurodegeneration.
Through Innovate UK’s Small Business Research Initiative, the competition will aid in enhancing clinical trials and precision therapies for patients living with dementia.
Estimated to affect 850,000 people in the UK, dementia is a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think or make decisions, which is economically responsible to cost £23bn a year.
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, affects one in 14 people over the age of 65 and one in six people over the age of 80.
In alignment with the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, a government-led effort to develop new precision dementia therapies and solutions in the UK, the competition aims to address the complexities of dementia and will empower organisations to develop customised tools using state-of-the-art technologies and repurposed innovations.
Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission co-chairs Nadeem Sarwar and Hilary Evans said: “The… technologies being funded… align with our focus on accelerating biomarker and clinical trial innovation, underpinned by scalable data sciences.”
By addressing the urgent need for improved clinical tools capable of identifying suitable patients for clinical trials and tailoring treatments, the ten projects could revolutionise dementia therapy while leveraging UK life science’s expertise.
The projects selected involve Cumulus Neuroscience, Cortirio, Cambridge Vision Technology, IXICO Technologies, the University of Nottingham, Quantified Imaging, Esya, Fraunhofer UK Research, Cfdx and Occuity and will cultivate artificial intelligence, digital biomarkers, labelling MRI, liquid biopsy and more.
Dr Stella Peace, executive director, healthy living and agriculture domain, Innovate UK, said: “This investment marks a significant step forward in our collective efforts to manage and eventually overcome the challenges posed by dementia” and “will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of dementia therapy, making life better for all”.
