International leaders will gather on 7 July 2021 to explore the challenges for health systems to be ready for new treatments. 

Presenting at the event will be Dr Joanne Pike, chief strategy officer at the Alzheimer’s Association who will reflect on the implications for the health system in the US of the FDA approval of a disease-modifying treatments and potential lessons; Dr Fiona Carragher, chief scientist at the Alzheimer’s Society (UK) will offer remarks on the challenges health systems face in respect of increasing diagnosis and the development of new diagnostic tools and techniques as well as broader questions around health system readiness; and Dr Maria Tome, senior scientific officer at the European Medicines Agency (EMA). They join co-chairs Dr Margaret Hamburg, former Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration and Professor Howard Bergman from McGill University.

The global project is reviewing international progress towards the 2025 dementia goals. At the G8 dementia summit in 2013, governments pledged to work together to advance research, improve care, raise awareness and prevent dementia. We are currently holding a series of global dialogue events of global experts to inform this project, and later this year the Council will publish a report on progress towards the 2025 goals.

Other dialogues that have been held as part of this series have included the topics of research, which have explored biomarkers and advances in treatments as well as in clinical trials, care, which assessed the models of care and the burden of caregivers, as well as on prevention, which looked at the state of play around current thinking in risk reduction strategies and lessons from other public health initiatives, technology in dementia, dementia in low- and middle-income countries, and data sharing for dementia research.