The number of people in Northern Ireland suffering from dementia — including those with Alzheimer's — is expected to nearly triple in the next 40 years, according to the Alzheimer's Society.
Currently about 16,000 people live with dementia here. More than half have Alzheimer's.

By 2050, 47,000 people in Northern Ireland are expected to be living with dementia, according to Claire Keatinge, director of the Alzheimer's Society in Northern Ireland.

An ageing population is the main reason for the increase.

Dementia is the decline in memory, reasoning and communications skills usually associated with ageing, although it can affect people at any age.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, and women are more likely to contract it than men.

Ms Keatinge said the research leading to the latest drug is "very, very significant" because it has looked at dealing with the protein tangles that kill brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients.

"This is the first credible research that looks at untangling the proteins," she said.

"That makes it a major new development in the fight against dementia."

She said the trial of Rember suggests it could be more than twice as effective as current medications.

However, she says, it could take up to ten years to get approval, and even then it would only slow the progress of the disease, rather than improving cognitive function.

She said the most recent trial of the drug was "not large or long enough for European approval".

"A larger and longer trial is needed before it would be ready for progression," Ms Keatinge said. "That's why it will take a minimum of five years and maybe ten before it's widely available."