Alzheimer's may in some cases be as manageable as HIV/Aids by 2025, the head of Britain's new Dementia Research Institute (DRI) predicts.
Professor Bart De Strooper said he hoped to see a time in the near future when the condition could be stabilised even if it proved impossible to cure.
There is even a chance that the brain could re-wire itself and restore lost mental ability once progress of the disease has been halted, he believes.