New institute opens as policymakers hold the line on Alzheimer’s disease access

Coinciding with Dementia Action Week is the launch of an Australian-first Brain Institute and Clinic at Macquarie University. While research remains critical to the future of neurological care, some of the technologies needed to confront the growing burden of disease are already here. Yet access remains constrained, with policymakers continuing to be gatekeepers of the status quo.

The new Brain Institute and Clinic builds on Macquarie University’s innovative healthcare model, which is home to the only university-based not-for-profit private hospital in Australia and combines patient care, research and discovery and teaching. Unlike traditional research centres that operate separately from clinical services, the Macquarie University Brain Institute and Clinic has been designed to bring research and patient care together.

“When time and effort is put in to solve these wicked problems, there is hope for families dealing with a diagnosis,” said NSW Health Minister Ryan Park. “This place brings the very best in clinical practice, the every best in research practice, all designed with the single goal of solving those wicked problems.”

Vice-Chancellor of Macquaire University, Professor Bruce Dowton, said the new Brain Institute and Clinic represents the next stage in University’s sustained investment in research, clinical care and education in neurological disease.

“Dementia, motor neuron disease (MND) and Parkinson’s are devastating diseases for individuals and families. Despite decades of research, they remain difficult to diagnose and treat, and there is an urgent need to turn scientific advances into better outcomes for patients,” Professor Dowton said. “Our ambition is simple: to make collaboration the default and through collaboration, accelerate the discoveries, treatments and care that can improve the lives of people living with brain disease.”

Dementia is Australia’s leading cause of death and costs the nation more than $18 billion annually. More than 430,000 Australians are living with dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for approximately 70% of cases.

Some of the health technologies needed to change Alzheimer’s diagnosis and management are already here. Roche Diagnostics’ Elecsys pTau 217 and pTau181 plasma assays, along with Lilly’s Kisunla (donanemab), are TGA approved for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and management. Yet neither is reimbursed for routine clinical access.

Recently, Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) has partnered with both companies to pilot a new model of care integrating blood-based biomarkers (BBMs), imaging technologies and treatments into streamlined referral pathways. The initiative will also focus on educating and equipping a multidisciplinary healthcare workforce, building the capability required to deliver high-quality Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and management.

“Medical research often starts in the laboratory, but translating a discovery into a treatment that can benefit patients can take 17 years,” said Professor Patrick McNeil, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Science and Managing Director of Macquarie University Health. “Clinical experience can help shape the questions researchers investigate, while new discoveries can be translated into clinical practice more quickly. Macquarie’s healthcare model gives us a unique opportunity to do this at scale – bringing research, treatment and education together around the needs of patients.”

The need for collaboration is being amplified by the expanding burden of neurological disease. Parkinson’s is the fastest-growing neurological condition in the world, affecting 150,000 people in Australia. An estimated 2,800 Australians are currently living with MND, with the disease accounting for almost 800 deaths annually.

As of this month, MND has become a notifiable condition in NSW, requiring clinicians by law to notify NSW Health and provide detailed information on cases of the disease. The Australia-first initiative follows the publication of the Public Health Amendment (Motor Neurone Disease) Order 2026. It is notable because, unlike most other conditions on the notifiable diseases list, the precise causes of MND remain unknown despite decades of research.

“The stakes could not be higher. But brain science is also at a pivotal moment, and we have an opportunity to change what is possible for people living with MND, Parkinson’s and dementia,” added Professor McNeil. “That is why we have established the Brain Institute and Clinic: to put the power of research to work for patients.”

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