GATES BACKS ALZHEIMER’S FIGHT
Bill Gates says he’s giving US$50 million to help fight Alzheimer’s disease. The Microsoft co-founder said Monday that the donation to the Dementia Discovery Fund is personal and not through his charitable foundation. The London-based private fund is backed by government, charities and pharmaceutical firms and seeks new treatments for the progressive, irreversible neurological disease. In a statement , Gates says men in his family have suffered from Alzheimer’s. He says he’s hopeful that in time Alzheimer’s could be a chronic condition treatable with medication. Gates says the first treatments for the disease might not be feasible for a decade or more and would initially be expensive. “It’s a huge problem, a growing problem, and the scale of the tragedy — even for the people who stay alive — is very high,” he told Reuters news agency.