About the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative (ADDI)

ADDI is a non-profit organization dedicated to fundamentally transforming Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) research by accelerating progress towards new and meaningful diagnostics, treatments, and cures. We see a future where open data and global collaboration power the end of ADRD.

Today, more than 55 million people worldwide have AD or related dementias.

The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide it costs $1.3 trillion per year to treat people with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. And as the world’s elderly population grows, the number of dementia patients worldwide and the disease’s financial cost will increase as well. Yet, we still lack meaningful therapies that can slow or reverse its course. These costs are already squeezing healthcare budgets in developed countries. If they aren’t addressed, the burden placed on health systems around the world will be debilitating.

In 2018, a coalition of organizations and industry partners who were interested in improving Alzheimer’s disease data sharing was brought together by Bill Gates—to move innovation further and faster by connecting researchers with the data they need.

ADDI initiatives will:

Increase interoperability of existing data platforms globally.

Increase sharing of dementia-related data from academic and industry sources.

Empower scientists to find, search, combine, and analyze data that could lead to new discoveries in dementia research.