GovWire

Scott Mitchell has today (Wednesday 20 March) been named the Peoples Champion of the ambitious national Mission to beat dementia, which was launched in memory of his late wife Dame Barbara Windsor, by the UK government.

The announcement will be formally made at a roundtable and reception today at No.10, where charities, academics, investors, business leaders and people with lived experience will come together to further accelerate efforts to tackle this devastating illness. The event is taking place to thank all those involved in supporting dementia research, including charities right across the UK, whose fundraising is vital to this ongoing work.

The appointment comes alongside 6 million in funding to boost clinical trials and innovation, including work in Northern Ireland on how AI can be used to support dementia diagnosis, and research in Scotland looking at how biomarkers found in blood can help detect the disease early.

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022, in honour of Dame Barbara and the millions of other people and their loved ones who have had their lives ruined by dementia. It forms part of the governments commitment to double funding for dementia research to 160 million a year by 2024 to 2025. Co-Chairs, Hilary Evans and Nadeem Sarwar, were appointed in March 2023 to spearhead delivery of the Mission.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said:

Dementia is an incredibly cruel disease, and as the leading cause of death in the UK nearly every family is affected by it in some way. Dame Barbaras brave campaigning, supported by her husband Scott Mitchell, made that devastating impact powerfully clear to everyone.

As a life sciences world leader, the UK is uniquely placed to make a difference in the fight against dementia, and by bringing academia, industry, the NHS and those with lived experience together we are determined to do just that. Now we need to keep mobilising the resources needed to fuel this vital work from the funds raised by charities large and small, to the industry backing thats crucial to delivering more breakthroughs.

Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins said:

Dementia can be a devastating illness and I want to see the Dementia Mission driving forward research to unlock the next generation of treatments in Dame Barbaras memory.

The government challenged G7 nations in 2013 to find new treatments for dementia and I hope we are now on the cusp of a breakthrough, with new drugs set to slow the impact of this terrible condition.

I am working with the NHS charities and the life sciences industry to make sure we are ready to roll out new treatments safely and rapidly.

Scott Mitchell said:

I am honoured to be appointed as the Peoples Champion of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, that was named after my late wife. She lived an extraordinary life, and her brave campaigning made a powerful impact on so many others who were going through the same.

I want to keep her story alive and help bring to light the stories of so many others who are affected by this terrible disease. I want to use this role to ensure that the path of the Dementia Mission puts people at its heart, so that together we can tackle dementia and have a positive impact on all those affected.

Scott Mitchell has been appointed to this unique new role in recognition of his profound contribution to the nations awareness of dementia, as a vocal advocate for both research and care. As Peoples Champion, he will ensure the Dementia Missions work is grounded in the real-world experiences of those with dementia, as well as their caregivers.

At its core, the Mission is about developing innovative research tools and boosting the number and speed of clinical trials in dementia and neurodegeneration. To this end, today also marks the launch of the Neurodegeneration Initiative. It is being set up to give industry and academics the tools they need to both speed up, and boost the number of, dementia clinical trials. This effort will be convened by Medicines Discovery Catapult, the UKs independent and not-for-profit drug discovery innovation centre. To ensure this work has the foremost scientific and technical guidance, and industry relevance, a Scientific Advisory Board is being established. This will be chaired by Dr Ruth McKernan CBE, a former Senior Vice President at Pfizer and former Executive Chair at Innovate UK, and is currently a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors, leading the creation of new dementia companies.

On top of this, today ten projects at the cutting edge of dementia research are being awarded a share of 6 million, through Innovate UKs Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) dementia biomarker tools competition. The work being supported ranges from an AI tool designed to improve the accuracy of blood tests for dementia, to using retinal scans to detect early-onset dementia decades before symptoms. This funding will help develop tools and technologies to transform and advance clinical trials and precision therapies for people with dementia.

Dr Ruth McKernan CBE said:

I am delighted to take on the role of the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. This initiative, working collectively, is poised to make a great impact;we now have the first drugs to show that Alzheimers is a modifiable disease and there are more than 100 different drugs in various stages of clinical trials. The biomarker work in particular should help us match each patient to the best emerging therapies for their neurodegenerative disorder.

All of this builds on the already-ongoing work to overhaul how we diagnose and treat dementia, through the Mission. With up to 20 million being invested through the Medical Research Council, the Dementia Trials Accelerator is delivering new measures to boost clinical trials, including rolling out AI technologies to support researchers, and establishing a trial-ready cohort of circa 20,000 at risk individuals who could be available for community-based trials at short notice. Nearly 50 million funding was announced in January, to support further work on clinical trials through The National Institute for Health and Social Care Researchs Dementia-Translational Research Collaboration Trials Network (D-TRC-TN) led by Dr Catherine Mummery.

By bringing industry leaders together at No.10, today is also a call to action, for private and philanthropic partners to partner with the Mission, building on all of this government backing, and the world-leading strengths of the UKs 94 billion life sciences sector, encouraging them to bring their own investment to bear on our scientists, clinicians and innovators efforts to tackle dementia.

Not only this, partners from across the Health System - including NHS England, NICE and MHRA are working together to ensure timely access to new, groundbreaking clinically and cost effective new medicines for Alzheimers Disease.

Hilary Evans, Co-Chair of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission and Chief Executive of Alzheimers Research UK, said:

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission is grounded in collaboration across the whole dementia landscape, from researchers to regulatory bodies, and of course the NHS. But we must go further to save people from the heartbreak of dementia sooner. Im delighted that Scott will be taking on the role of Peoples Champion, his support is essential to the Mission being a powerful driving force for change, and people with dementia deserve no less.

New treatments for Alzheimers disease the leading cause of dementia are finally on the horizon, we are now in the strongest position yet to bring an end to the devastation this condition inflicts on people and society. Now we must keep up this momentum and ensure the UK is at the forefront of tackling dementia for years to come.

Professor Nadeem Sarwar, Co-Chair of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, said:

This year, weve taken significant steps in shaping the foundational framework of the Dementia Mission by c



View the original news story