Dr Gillings said that scientists increasingly believed it had been a mistake to treat dementia as one disease, saying it was likely that breakthroughs would come from targeting subtypes of the condition. "We used to just think cancer; now we know there are many different types, with different treatments. We need to approach dementia similarly," he said.
Current medications mask symptoms but do not delay the onset of disease. Dr Gillings, the founder of a US company that runs clinical trials, said progress was being made on treatments that might halt or reverse the progress of dementia, with some kind of brain training used to help rebuild lost neural pathways.
Other treatments could "untangle some of the neural tangles" to enable regeneration, he said.
Saluting recent British investment in science, and the creation of a 150 million Dementia Research Institute, he said that, none the less, breakthroughs were more likely in the US, which put more money into research.
"We need sensible partnerships here. What we need to avoid is making a breakthrough on such a drug that can destroy plaque but is then refused by the NHS," he said.
Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Dementia doesn't stop at UK borders, and is undoubtedly the biggest health and care challenge facing the world."With the dementia crisis snowballing, strong global leadership is essential."
