King's College London announces the launch of a transformative European initiative to accelerate the implementation of scientific innovations for Alzheimer's disease (AD) management.
The ACCESS-AD consortium, which is co-led by King's College London, Amsterdam UMC, Siemens Healthineers and Gates Ventures, and funded by the European Commission's Innovative Health Initiative, has announced the launch of a transformative European initiative which has an initial budget of over €37 million over 5 years to accelerate the implementation of scientific innovations for Alzheimer's disease (AD) management, of which King's College London has been awarded €2.8m.
The prevalence of AD is rising sharply and is expected to exceed 19 million people in Europe by 2050. Current rates are already placing a significant strain on healthcare systems, leading to delays in delivering timely diagnostic testing, brain imaging and structured clinical follow-up, raising the risk of delayed treatment and poorer outcomes.
ACCESS-AD aims to address these challenges directly, accelerating innovation and strengthening equitable access to timely and effective care. It will unite brain imaging, blood-based biomarkers, digital monitoring tools, AI-driven decision support and real-world evidence into a seamless patient pathway. Its design aims to accelerate diagnostic confirmation, support the safe administration of DMTs and broaden access to advanced innovations beyond specialist centres, including primary care and underserved regions.
"By combining technological innovation with economic, ethical, regulatory and patient perspectives, we aim to chart a sustainable, scalable and equitable pathway for the implementation of new AD diagnostics and therapies."
Professor Dag Aarsland, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Head of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at King's College London and clinical co-Lead of the project
A central focus of the project is the combination of advanced but accessible neuroimaging with expanded use of fluid and digital biomarkers. This will support early and accurate patient identification, enabling timely diagnosis and entry into personalised treatment pathways that may include DMTs, targeted lifestyle interventions and nutritional strategies. ACCESS-AD also aims to widen access to tools that historically have been available only in centres of excellence, such as accelerated MRI protocols, quantitative amyloid PET/CT and automated safety monitoring.
"By bringing together academic, clinical and industry expertise from across Europe, ACCESS-AD will be able to identify novel personalised lifestyle and therapeutic interventions for the prevention of cognitive decline and to promote healthy brain ageing in the population."
Dr Richard Siow, Director of Ageing Research at King's (ARK), a Group Leader in the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences and a Consortium co-investigator
A cornerstone of ACCESS-AD is its pan-European AD registry, which will leverage the established InRAD platform. This infrastructure will collect real-world data from more than 500 patients across a variety of health systems, capturing safety, clinical evolution and treatment outcomes under routine clinical conditions. The registry will also support a pilot study that tests the feasibility of combining DMTs with a multicomponent lifestyle intervention and nutritional supplement strategy.
Recognising the need for equitable and scalable implementation, ACCESS-AD integrates health-economic modelling, regulatory development, ethical reflection and sustainability assessments. European Patient Advisory Boards will ensure that the needs and values of patients and carers are embedded throughout the project. ACCESS-AD builds on other IHI initiatives including PROMINENT, PREDICTOM, AD-RIDDLE and EPND, ensuring that advances in early detection, biomarker innovation and data infrastructure translate into improved diagnosis, treatment and care.
"ACCESS-AD is bringing together cutting-edge diagnostics and personalised treatment in a way that can be delivered at scale. By integrating neuroimaging with fluid and digital biomarkers, we can identify people at risk earlier and guide them into tailored treatment pathways that combine disease-modifying therapies with lifestyle and nutritional strategies."
Dr Zunera Khan, Research Portfolio Lead in the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at King's
Professor Mariam Molokhia, a clinical epidemiologist and GP in the School of Life Course and Population Sciences at King's is a Consortium Co-investigator leading primary care and epidemiology aspects of the clinical studies.
This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement No 101253010. The JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe, and Vaccines Europe.
