亿万富翁投资3000万美元向阿兹海默症开战

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has joined with fellow billionaires to take on Alzheimer's disease.

Gates, along with Leonard Lauder, the Dolby family, and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation are committing more than $30 million over the next three years to encourage development of new tests for early detection of Alzheimer's disease.

Last November, Gates invested $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund, a venture capital fund that brings together industry and government to seek treatments for the brain-wasting disease.

The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, affects nearly 50 million people worldwide. Alzheimer's erodes memory, motor functions and a patient's ability to live a normal life.

As the U.S. population ages, the disease is expected to afflict more than 13.8 million Americans by 2050.

The funds will be available to scientists and clinicians working in academic settings around the world, charities and biotechnology companies.