To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the participation of people living with Dementia in clinical trials.
Answered on
22 February 2024
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is supporting a range of activities to increase the participation of people living with dementia in clinical trials.
In January 2024, the NIHR announced the Dementia-Translational Research Collaboration Trials Network (D-TRC TN) which is supported by almost £50 million of funding over five years. This will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities in dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments. The D-TRC TN will increase opportunities for people with dementia to take part in clinical trials, irrespective of where they live in the UK. The NIHR also works in partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Scotland to deliver Join Dementia Research (JDR), an online platform which enables the involvement of people with a dementia diagnosis and their carers to take part in a range of research, including clinical trials. When volunteers register for JDR, the information they provide is used to match them to studies which are suitable for them to take part in, both online, nationally and in their local areas. Almost 10% of people registered on JDR have a dementia or mild cognitive impairment diagnosis.