World Alzheimer Report 2026

The publication of Alzheimer’s Disease International’s World Alzheimer Report 2026: A New Era in Dementia Clinical Trials marks an important moment for dementia. For years, people living with dementia and their families have heard about promising research without seeing many treatments become available as part of everyday care.

There are now 158 potential drugs being tested across 192 clinical trials. This represents enormous potential for the future of dementia treatment. But the report is also clear that scientific progress is only part of the story.

Clinical trials need people to take part in them. They need people at different stages of dementia, from different backgrounds and communities. They need healthcare professionals who understand research and can explain opportunities to patients. They also need trials designed around the realities of people’s lives rather than expecting people to fit themselves around research.

The report is highly relevant to Alzheimer Scotland’s three priorities: Prevent, Care, Cure.

Alzheimer Scotland’s Cure ambition is not only about funding research. It is also about making sure that people can participate in research and have fair access to new treatments as they become available.

Many emerging treatments depend on identifying dementia earlier. That makes timely and accurate diagnosis an increasingly important part of good Care. People need to be able to recognise symptoms, get an accurate diagnosis without unnecessary delay, understand what that diagnosis means and receive the right support afterwards.

This is why Alzheimer Scotland’s manifesto, the Dementia Care Pathway Guarantees, is so important.

The Guarantees call for a maximum eight-week wait for diagnostic assessment and access to the tests needed to reach a diagnosis. They also call for Post Diagnostic Support to begin within one month and continue for at least a year, alongside named care coordination, therapeutic services and support for carers.

These should be minimum expectations, wherever someone lives in Scotland. They can also help people navigate and engage with a dementia landscape that is changing rapidly.

The World Alzheimer Report principally focuses on clinical trials rather than prevention. But Alzheimer Scotland’s Prevent ambition reflects growing evidence that the risk of developing dementia can be reduced, while advances in research are creating possibilities for identifying and treating disease earlier.

Perhaps one of the most important messages we can take from the report, then, is that Prevent, Care and Cure cannot be treated as separate ambitions.

Better prevention could mean fewer people developing dementia. Earlier diagnosis can give people more time for planning and support and, where appropriate, opportunities to access treatment or take part in research. Good care enables people with dementia and their families to live well for longer while science continues to progress. Meanwhile, successful research has the potential to transform how we prevent and treat dementia in the future.

There is much to be excited about in the World Alzheimer Report 2026. It captures the extraordinary pace of change in dementia clinical research and the potential this holds for people living with dementia now and in the future.

But a new era in dementia research will only become a new era for people living with dementia if our health and social care systems are ready for it.

That means making sure people can receive the right diagnosis, support, care and opportunities at the right time, wherever they live.