Twenty scientific teams are advancing in a $101 million competition seeking treatments that could restore at least a decade of muscle, cognitive, and immune function in older adults.
The XPRIZE Foundation announced Tuesday that the teams have been selected as finalists in its Healthspan competition, a seven-year effort to develop therapies targeting the biology of aging itself.
Ten of the finalists will receive $1 million each as part of the next milestone phase.
The Goal: More Healthy Years, Not Just More Years
The competition is focused on a distinction increasingly used in aging research: healthspan, or the portion of a person’s life spent in relatively good health and functional ability.
According to the XPRIZE Healthspan competition, participating teams are being challenged to develop safe and accessible therapies capable of restoring muscle, cognitive, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years, with a goal of 20 years, in adults ages 50 to 90.
The treatments are also expected to produce those improvements within one year or less of treatment. The competition launched in November 2023 and is scheduled to run through 2030.
The eventual grand-prize winner could receive as much as $81 million.
Ten Teams Will Receive $1 Million
The 20 finalists were announced Tuesday at an awards ceremony in Salt Lake City.
Ten of those teams were selected as Milestone 2 Awardees and will receive $1 million apiece, for a total of $10 million in milestone funding. The awardees also will receive access to clinical-testing resources.
The 10 teams XPRIZE Healthspan Milestone awardees are:
- AgelessRx, USA
- Goda Lab (University of Tokyo / Tohoku University / NanoTitan / Tokyo Relife Clinic), Japan
- Johns Hopkins-Suninflam (Suninflam Inc. & Johns Hopkins University), USA
- Longeveron, Inc., USA
- Minicircle Inc., USA
- Mitochondrial All Stars (Mighty Therapeutics Holdings Inc./Univ. Washington), USA
- NYC-Vita Trial (Mount Sinai Health System), USA
- RETRO-EPIGERNA (Macau University of Science and Technology) Macao SAR, China.
- RPRGAON-Progeria (PRG S&Tech), South Korea
- TIME TRAVELER – Plant-EVs, Japan
The teams represent researchers and organizations in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China.
What Are the Researchers Actually Trying?
The finalists are pursuing a wide range of approaches rather than a single proposed “anti-aging” treatment.
According to XPRIZE, the approaches include existing and new drugs targeting metabolism and inflammation, treatments intended to repair mitochondrial damage, biologic therapies targeting cell damage and fibrosis, stem-cell therapies, temporary genetic instructions delivered to cells, and extracellular vesicles that can carry biological material between cells.
Other approaches involve combinations of plant-based or food-derived compounds, existing drugs, exercise, telehealth, and artificial-intelligence-supported systems intended to personalize treatments.
One approach described by XPRIZE involves a treatment designed to act as a type of “repair patch” for mitochondria, the structures inside cells responsible for producing much of the body’s usable energy.
Another involves what the organization describes as a targeted “search and destroy” approach aimed at one of the toxic proteins associated with accelerated aging.
The finalists were evaluated based on factors including scientific rationale, scalability, accessibility, and readiness to enter the competition’s clinical-trial phase.
The Next Test Is on Humans
The announcement does not mean any of the teams has demonstrated that it can reverse human aging.
Instead, the finalists are moving into the portion of the competition where their approaches will undergo clinical testing.
XPRIZE said finalists will conduct clinical trials from 2026 through 2029, with individual trials lasting up to one year. The trials will evaluate whether the therapies can restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function in adults ages 50 to 90.
The University of Utah’s Data Coordinating Center will oversee trial and data management, while the University of California San Diego’s Stein Institute for Research on Aging will coordinate shared laboratories, biomarkers, and the storage of blood and cells used in the competition.
That testing phase could prove considerably more difficult than demonstrating promising results in laboratory research. Treatments must ultimately show measurable benefits in people while also meeting safety requirements.
A $101 Million Bet on Aging Research
The size of the prize reflects the growing interest in treating aging-related decline as a biological problem rather than simply treating individual diseases as they appear.
The XPRIZE competition page describes the seven-year effort as a $101 million global competition. The organization says the ultimate objective is to develop therapies that can extend the period of life during which people remain physically and cognitively capable.
The competition also includes a separate $10 million FSHD Bonus Prize focused on restoring muscle function affected by facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
Peter H. Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE, said the finalist announcement represents a milestone for the competition.
“Today marks a pivotal milestone for XPRIZE Healthspan and the future of healthy aging,” Diamandis said. “It is inspiring to see the breadth of scientific approaches our finalist teams are advancing to tackle one of humanity’s greatest challenges.”
For now, the central question is no longer simply whether scientists can make people live longer. The finalists are being challenged to determine whether science can make more of those additional years functionally healthier.
The competition is scheduled to conclude in 2030, when XPRIZE expects to award up to $81 million to a grand-prize winner.
