The BARBARA Alliance was officially launched on the 10th July at the Industry Drug Discovery and Development conference in London, hosted by our ARUK UCL/DDF colleague Prof Fiona Ducotterd.
The BARBARA Alliance’s Chairman, Lord Bethell, spoke at an event packed with some of the leading lights in the academic and global Life Sciences community, telling the audience that he was “hugely optimistic” of the developments being made in dementia.
“I remember my father telling me that he would cut off his right arm to have one more year without dementia,” Lord Bethell said.
“Throughout the day, we’ve heard how the science is racing ahead.
“Our challenge is to ensure the systems, data and support to clinical trial infrastructure move just as quickly.
“So that is why I am so excited that today we are launching something which can fundamentally accelerate the development of the next generation of dementia treatments.
“I am proud to announce The BARBARA Alliance, and prouder still to be its Chair.”
At the heart of The BARBARA Alliance is BARBARA – the Brain Ageing Registry for Biomarkers, Access to trials, Research and Adoption.
BARBARA is a dynamic, UK-wide virtual registry that will do two things.
Firstly, it will connect existing research cohorts, NHS services and, secondly, it will support emerging biomarker technologies with funding and validation.
Together, this single front door to Britain’s dementia data will help identify and recruit participants for dementia clinical trials more quickly and equitably, and help tackle the devastation of dementia in the UK and beyond.
We are hugely grateful to all those who have been involved in our launch, in particular Prof Ducotterd for putting on such a successful event and allowing us the opportunity to make our announcement and Dr Ruth McKernan and Prof James Rowe for their lead on the research which underpinned our launch: Breaking barriers: Enhancing access to dementia clinical trials in the United Kingdom | The Barbara Alliance.
The work of The BARBARA Alliance has only just begun and we look forward to sharing more news with our existing, and potentially new, partners over the next weeks and months.
Chairman Lord Bethell officially launches The BARBARA Alliance in London