On 13 January, a new European project, ACCESS-AD was launched by the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI). ACCESS-AD aims to improve how people with Alz-heimer’s disease are diagnosed, treated and managed by healthcare systems, with a strong focus on timely diagnosis and effective treatment regardless of where people live in Europe.
ACCESS-AD is a five-year programme co-led by Amster-dam UMC, Siemens Healthineers, King’s College London and Gates Ventures. It has a total budget of more than EUR 37 million, including approximately EUR 20 million in fund-ing from the European Commission and around EUR 17 million from industry partners. The consortium brings to-gether 30 organisations, including universities, hospitals, patient organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises, medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical compa-nies, reflecting the complexity of the challenges facing Alzheimer’s disease in Europe.
Alzheimer Europe plays an active role in the project as co-leader of a workstream focused on stakeholder engage-ment and Public Involvement. Alzheimer Europe will be helping to ensure that people living with Alzheimer’s dis-ease and their carers are meaningfully involved throughout the project. This includes supporting Public Involvement activities, contributing to ethical reflections on new diagnos-tic and treatment approaches, engaging with key stake-holders, and helping to translate project results into policy-relevant insights at European and national level.
ACCESS-AD begins at a critical moment for the Alz-heimer’s community. In 2025, the first medicines designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease were ap-proved in Europe, marking an important breakthrough. However, many healthcare systems are struggling to put these scientific advances into everyday practice. Long wait-ing times for diagnosis, shortages of specialist staff and uneven access to advanced diagnostic tests mean that many people are still diagnosed and treated too late. At the same time, the number of people living with dementia con-tinues to rise and is expected to exceed 19 million in Eu-rope by 2050.
The project aims to help address these challenges by de-veloping a practical framework for diagnosis and treatment that can be applied across different healthcare systems. This framework combines brain imaging, blood-based biomarkers, digital tools and artificial intelligence to support clinicians in making faster and more accurate decisions. A key objective is to bring high-quality diagnosis and follow-up closer to patients, including outside major specialist centres. ACCESS-AD covers the full patient journey, from identifying early signs of disease to monitoring treatment over time and will also explore lifestyle and nutritional ap-proaches that may support brain health. Real-world data from patients in different countries will play a central role, ensuring that solutions are grounded in everyday clinical practice and remain focused on the needs of people affect-ed by Alzheimer’s disease.
Read the full press release: www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1112308
Read more about ACCESS-AD: www.access-ad.org
