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Bill Gates Pledges $100 Million To Find an Alzheimer's Cure, His First Commitment To a Non-communicable Disease (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the Mr.-Gates dept.

At present, there is no treatment to stop the Alzheimer's. Bill Gates wants to make a sizeable attempt to change that. From a report:He is to invest $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund, a venture capital fund that brings together industry and government to seek treatments for the brain-wasting disease. The investment -- a personal one and not part of Gates' philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- will be followed by another $50 million in start-up ventures working in Alzheimer's research, Gates said. "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 said. Despite decades of scientific research, there is no treatment that can slow the progression of Alzheimer's. Current drugs can do no more than ease some of the symptoms.

3 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. There will never be a cure... by Kenja · · Score: 3, Informative

    Once you're brain is full of holes, that's more or less it. There can however be preventative treatments.

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    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:There will never be a cure... by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Informative

      As usual the summary isn't quite accurate. "Curing" the disease, as in reversing it once it has damaged a person's brain, is not the actual goal. From the article (emphasis mine):

      Through talking to experts in the field over the past year, Gates said he had identified five areas of need: Understanding better how Alzheimer’s unfolds, detecting and diagnosing it earlier, pursuing multiple approaches to trying to halt the disease , making it easier for people to take part in clinical trials of potential new medicines, and using data better.

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      Better known as 318230.
    2. Re:There will never be a cure... by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Once you're brain is full of holes, that's more or less it. There can however be preventative treatments.

      Pedantic chime-in to say that "a brain full of holes" is more descriptive of spongiform encephalopathies, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Alzheimer's is more like having a brain full of gunk.

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