Bill Gates donating £38 million finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease

There are more than 520,000 people in the UK with Alzheimer's disease. It's the most common cause of dementia and there is currently no known cure.

But Bill Gates is setting out to change that.

"I believe there is a solution," he told CNN in an exclusive interview.

"Any type of treatment would be a huge advance from where we are today," he said.

But that's not enough for a man who has already worked hard to rid the world of HIV, malaria and polio.

"The long-term goal has got to be cure."

Alzheimer's, named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who discovered it, is a physical disease that causes proteins to build up in the brain and form structures known as "plaques" or "tangles".

These block up the connections that nerve cells use to transmit information to each other. Gradually, this leads to the death of those nerve cells and the loss of brain tissue.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it also limits the important chemicals inside the brain that actually help transmit signals around the brain.

The result is a loss of memories, personalities and eventually basic brain functions.

This will be the first non-communicable disease Gates has faced. He is starting with a $50 million (£38 million) investment of his own money into a private-public research partnership known as the Dementia Discovery Fund.

Putting money into the fund will help it explore possible treatments and actions that may not have been previously funded.

"My family, including several men in my family, have had this disease," Gates said. "So I've seen how tough it is. That's not my sole motivation, but it certainly drew me in."

Gates' input could drive the development of some kind of effective treatment for the condition. According to CNN, there have been over 400 drug trials for Alzheimer's but so far no effective treatments.

However, the last five years have advanced imaging technology to a point where researchers can examine much more of the brain. This extends to seeing the amyloid and tau proteins that cause the blockages.

"I'm a huge believer in that science and innovation are going to solve most of the tough problems over time," the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said.