January 2020
Alzheimer’s Research UK has called on government to invest in six priority research areas, which will help to deliver a life-changing treatment for dementia.
In their 2019 manifesto, the Conservative party pledged to launch a “Dementia Moonshot” to find a cure for dementia - doubling research funding and speeding up trials for new treatments.
Now we need to see action to deliver on those commitments. Our plan outlines the steps government must take to deliver its Moonshot ambition of finding a life-changing treatment for dementia.
Delivering the Dementia Moonshot: A plan to find life-changing treatments

These are:
- Find ways to detect the diseases that cause dementia 10-15 years earlier, to broaden the search for new treatments and intervene with those most at risk of developing dementia.
- Find ways to more effectively validate novel targets in early drug development to maximise chances of successful clinical trials.
- Make the UK the best place to conduct clinical dementia research.
- Expand research infrastructure to maintain the UK’s position as a world leader in dementia research.
- Further our understanding of dementia risk reduction and prevention and dementia in the context of multi-morbidities.
- Develop robust prevalence data for dementia to further our knowledge of the impact of dementia across our society.