Stratification and Neurodegenerative diseases Regional workshops for two new competitions from the Stratified Medicine Innovation Platform

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £7m in the area of stratification and neurodegenerative diseases, in two collaborative R&D competitions. In neurodegenerative diseases there is a considerable unmet clinical need and a requirement for improved characterisation and early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases and better tools to support patient treatment, management and care, an area that is also of direct relevance to the Assisted Living Innovation Platform.

Neurodegenerative diseases are incurable and debilitating conditions that result in progressive degeneration or death of nerve cells. They include Alzheimer's disease (AZD) and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, motor neurone disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and multiple sclerosis. Of these, the dementias are responsible for the greatest disease burden, with AZD representing over 60-70% of the cases, affecting 7 million people in Europe.  The costs of care for dementia patients are estimated at £23 billion per annum in the UK and in the order of €130 billion/annum in Europe, thus highlighting neurodegenerative disease as a leading medical and societal challenge and providing a major opportunity for the development of new healthcare technologies and practices.

In preparation for this, its 5th series of competitions, scheduled to open on 27th May 2014, SMIP will be holding a series of consortium building events:

• Edinburgh on 16th May
• Liverpool on 20th May
• London on 22nd May

Register here for one of the consortium building workshops - http://www.htmktn-event.co.uk/Register.asp