Bill Gates donates £38m for British fund to beat dementia

BILL Gates is to invest £38million in a British dementia fund set up to accelerate the search for a cure.

The billionaire revealed yesterday he was supporting the project after seeing relatives suffer from Alzheimer’s.

The Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) was launched by the Government and British charities and pharmaceutical firms in 015.

The Microsoft founder, 6 , said he was looking to invest another $50million in start-up dementia companies.

Mr Gates has already poured £30billion into health research through his philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses mainly on diseases of the developing world.

The latest investment, which is being made personally rather through the foundation, is his first for dementia. Some 850,000 in Britain suffer with dementia, and despite decades of research, there is no treatment.

The venture capitalist DDF was set up in response to David Cameron’s pledge in 013 to find a cure by 0 5. It has so far invested in 1 projects.

Experts last night compared the investment to Richard Nixon’s push for better cancer treatments in the 1970s.

Mr Gates said yesterday: ‘We are at a turning point in Alzheimer’s research and development, in which the DDF is playing an important role.

‘I’m excited to join the fight and can’t wait to see what happens next. It is a huge problem, a growing problem, and the scale of the tragedy – even for the people who stay alive – is very high.’

He added: ‘I know how awful it is to watch people you love struggle as the disease robs them of their mental capacity. It feels a lot like you’re experiencing a gradual death of the person that you knew. Some of the men in my family have suffered from Alzheimer’s, but I wouldn’t say that’s the sole reason for this investment.’

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: ‘This investment could help us to change the lives of millions of people.’

Jeremy Hughes, head of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘In the 1970s President Nixon launched a war against cancer that ignited research investment and collaboration across the globe.

‘Today more people survive cancer than die from it, and with sufficient investment in dementia research we know the same tremendous progress will be possible for people and families affected by it.

‘With Bill Gates now joining all those already united against dementia, there is new hope for advances in the care and cure of dementia.’