Professor predicts a shift in dementia treatment

New medicines and device-based treatments for dementia could reach patients in the coming years, but Finland’s health system needs to improve early diagnosis, professor Eino Solje told Yle.

Dementia-related costs to society run into billions of euros. Dementia is the leading cause of death among women and the third most common cause across the population, Solje said. Yet research into the conditions has lagged behind work on cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Solje is a professor at the University of Eastern Finland, chief physician at Kuopio University Hospital and head of its Brain Research Unit, which conducts clinical trials of new medicines with pharmaceutical companies. He said healthcare professionals still sometimes need persuading of the importance of diagnosing dementia and investigating its causes, although he has noticed attitudes beginning to change.

Research into medicines and devices has increased considerably, Solje said, and researchers are hopeful that some innovations will be used in patient care in the coming years. Two medicines that slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, have already been approved in Europe. They are expensive and suitable for only a small number of patients, but Solje sees them as evidence of change.

Several other medicines are at different stages of development and could be assessed by regulators in the coming years. Their potential use on a wider scale would raise questions about whether health services can identify and diagnose dementia early enough, Solje said.

Developing treatments and studying how the diseases work is slow and costly, particularly when research involves people. Trials to establish whether a medicine is safe and effective can cost hundreds of millions of euros, beyond the means of public universities alone. Solje said commercial companies need to be involved, while caution and long-term testing are important to identify potential harms.