Dr. Laura O'Philbin:

In my experience, for the many people who are invested in dementia-specific drugs, such as Dementia Trials Ireland, which was funded in 2021 and is aiming to triple the number of clinical trials available to people living with dementia, it is more the system that slows things down. Obviously, they cannot bring a drug to market or test drugs on people that might not be 100% safe. However, hope does not just come from pharmacological treatments, however important they are. There is also hope in knowing that if you receive a diagnosis of dementia, you will have your dementia adviser, adequate home care, day care at home, a day centre and activities to go to. These things need to happen in tandem. There are people for whom drugs will not be acceptable or who might not want them in the same way there are people who do not want to attend certain services. In the short term, we need further investment in supports and services for people living with dementia while we ready ourselves for the possibility of pharmacological treatments.