Reducing the Rate of Increase in Dementia Patients by Half... Launch of Pan-Government R&D Initiative

Getty Images Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A government project aimed at identifying the causes of dementia diseases such as mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia, diagnosing them, and developing treatments will be fully launched this year. A total of 198.7 billion KRW will be invested over nine years for research and development. The goal is to delay the onset of dementia by about five years and reduce the rate of increase in dementia patients by half.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 31st that they will launch the Dementia Overcoming Research and Development Project Group, led by Professor Mook Inhee of Seoul National University.

The project group will conduct research in three areas: identifying the causes and mechanisms of dementia onset, developing dementia prediction and diagnostic technologies, and developing dementia prevention and treatment technologies. It passed the preliminary feasibility study last year, and a total of 198.7 billion KRW will be invested by 2028.

To find the fundamental causes of dementia onset, 45.1 billion KRW will be invested. Developing technologies to predict dementia before onset or diagnose it in the early stages will receive 50.8 billion KRW. Developing dementia treatments and brain drug delivery technologies will be supported with 60.9 billion KRW. Detailed research projects in each subfield will be selected through a public call for domestic researchers starting next month.

The two ministries expect this project to delay dementia onset by about five years and reduce the rate of increase in dementia patients by 50%.

Ko Seogon, Director of Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Since dementia is difficult to treat once symptoms progress to a certain level, securing early diagnosis and treatment technologies is key. Through a full-cycle project group jointly operated by the Ministry of Science and ICT, responsible for basic and fundamental research, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which supports clinical applications, we will do our best to alleviate the national burden of dementia."