The Dementia Discovery Fund, a new initiative designed to speed up the discovery and development of new treatments for dementia, has launched after securing $100 million backing from worldwide investors. The U.K. government’s Department of Health, Alzheimer’s Research U.K. and pharmaceutical companies including Biogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Takeda have joined forces to support the innovative new fund.

International life sciences venture capital firm SV Life Sciences (SVLS) has been appointed as fund manager, bringing with them a track-record of investing in high-quality medical research across the globe. SVLS will work to identify innovative new drug development projects for investment, with the aim of finding new treatments capable of altering the course of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and improving symptoms for people affected.

The fund will focus on exploring new ideas in dementia research, as well as stimulating further global investment in research into the condition, which currently affects 850,000 people in the U.K. and 47 million people worldwide.

Matthew Norton, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Research U.K., said, “By focusing on new approaches for treating the condition, we hope investments made through the fund will increase our chances of delivering treatments to the people who so desperately need them. With no treatments currently able to tackle the diseases that cause dementia, the condition is arguably our greatest medical challenge and this initiative is a vital part of the fight-back.”