There is no question that Bill Gates is one brilliant individual. Fortunately, if there is one by-product from a man that has made billions it would be the fact that he is actually one generous person. His latest useful endeavor is to donate $100 million towards research to find a cure for Alzheimer’s.
It goes without saying that Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. At last count, it had stolen the memories and intellect of over 47 million Americans. Those statistics continue to rise simply because there is no known cure for the disease. Luckily for us, Bill Gates is trying to change that.
For Gates, the main focus of this most recent act of philanthropy is to fund the Dementia Discovery Fund, which is a group dedicated to some of the more out-of-the-box ideas behind why this disease is so consistently devastating. This group is also dedicated to looking at the immune system of the brain for clues on how this disease is able to flourish. Perhaps most interestingly, this is the first time that Gates has donated money to fund research into a noncommunicable disease. Normally, the Microsoft tycoon usually has done a lot of work through his foundation regarding HIV, Malaria and Polio just to name a few.
For scientists, finding a cure to a devastating disease is practically the holy grail. Individuals can spend whole careers dedicated to studying just one disease. Funding for the development of new drugs for a disease can be a serious roadblock to an already daunting process. This is one of the reasons why Gates’ donation is so important.
Another reason is because of the immense amount of failed trials regarding the new drugs for treating this disease. Gates knows there have been many failed trials, so his funding will go to helping new trials to development. He is also hoping that a new emphasis will be placed on Alzheimer’s research simply because there are currently very few drugs that treat the disease specifically, only drugs that treat memory loss or confusion.
Scientists know there are a lot of biomarkers that can be found in individuals that later develop Alzheimer’s. One of the things Bill Gates hopes his donation will do is spur researchers to look outside the box and spur the development of medications that can taken as a preventative measure. For instance, you wouldn’t give someone Lipitor to prevent a heart attack; it would already be too late. With Gates’ donation, there is none too soon now a much better chance that new drugs will develop to make Alzheimer’s a thing of the past.