On 5 December, our partner Alzheimer Europe held a lunch debate in the European Parliament in Brussels co-chaired by MEPs Heinz K Becker (Austria) and Olga Sehnalová (Czech Republic) which focused on improving the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease thanks to European research collaboration.

The lunch debate gathered over 95 people including MEPs Nessa Childers (Ireland) Marian Harkin (Ireland), Lambert van Nistelrooij (Netherlands). Peter Kouroumbashev (Bulgaria) and Keith Taylor (UK). The audience included representatives from 24 Alzheimer Europe member associations, several pharmaceutical companies and all members of Alzheimer Europe’s European Working Group of People with Dementia and their supporters. 

One of the four speakers was Dr Elisabetta Vaudano from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). She talked about the IMI portfolio of AD projects supporting research in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. She presented both the MOPEAD and the AMYPAD projects. Dr Vaudano stressed the need for collaboration at European but also at global level to address the dementia challenge, amongst patients, scientists, industry and healthcare professionals.