Bill Gates personally invests £76 million in Alzheimer’s research

The Microsoft founder has pledged his own money to help tackle dementia
Personal investment: Bill Gates is giving $100 million to Alzheimer's research
Yana Paskova/Getty
Ben Travis14 November 2017

Bill Gates has pledged to invest £76 million ($100 million) into Alzheimer’s research to help tackle dementia.

The founder of Microsoft is personally investing £38 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund, as well as investing another £38 million into different start-ups researching Alzheimer’s.

The billionaire detailed his reasons for putting his personal money into the fight against the degenerative disease in a blog post titled ‘Why I’m Digging Deep Into Alzheimer’s’.

Gates says that “men in [his] family have suffered” from the condition, and hopes that a breakthrough similar to HIV medication can be discovered to keep dementia at bay.

He also hopes that the research could tackle the huge medical bills families and healthcare systems face when treating the likes of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“I believe we are at a turning point in Alzheimer’s R&D,” Gates writes.

“This is a frontier where we can dramatically improve human life. It’s a miracle that people are living so much longer, but longer life expectancies alone are not enough.

“People should be able to enjoy their later years—and we need a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s to fulfill that. I’m excited to join the fight and can’t wait to see what happens next.”

Gates warns that results from his investment “might not come to fruition for another decade or more”.

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