$101m longevity research prize aims to ‘shatter the limits' on ageing
Admitting its goal is 'audacious', the largest longevity-focused prize in history – offering $101m in prize money – will announce its shortlist of candidates on Monday.
The aim of the seven-year XPrize Healthspan is to develop a way for humans to dramatically rejuvenate muscles, cognition and immune functions, the three systems crucial to healthy ageing.
'This competition isn't just accelerating progress, it's shattering the limits of what's possible when it comes to ageing,' said Jamie Justice, the executive director of XPrize, run by the XPrize Foundation and backed by funders including the Hevolution Foundation.
The winning team should be able to restore these three systems by a minimum of 10 – but ideally 20 – years in humans aged 50 to 80. A key condition of the final prize is that the innovation is accessible to as many people as cheaply and easily as possible.
Another condition is that there will be no delay in rolling out the solution: the winning idea must be scalable in 12 months or less of the final award being made in 2030, after a final $81m one-year clinical trial in older adults.
'Success will profoundly change our approach to ageing and positively affect quality of life and healthcare costs,' Justice said.
XPrize is not the only multimillion-dollar prize on offer to those striving to come up with an answer to ageing: the Saudi-backed Hevolution Foundation has pledged $1bn to fund longevity research, clinical trials and global collaborations over a decade.
The Methuselah Mouse prize (Mprize) has committed more than $4.5m to extend the lifespan of mice as a proxy for delaying human ageing. The Rejuvenation Startup Challenge awards $2-3m to support startups with promising rejuvenation technologies. The Palo Alto longevity prize offers $1m to extend lifespan in mammals.
All these prizes are devised to address the fact that while global life expectancy has more than doubled in the last 100 years, the quality of our health as we age has stalled. There are enormous gaps around the world between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy: in the UK, women can expect to live up to 22 years in poor health. Men live on average 17 years with chronic illness, disability or reduced quality of life.
The aim of XPrize is not to develop cutting-edge therapeutics. 'The standout aim is to redefine our approach to extending the healthy, quality years of human life,' Justice said. 'The winning intervention will not be disease-specific and reactive, like modern medicine. Instead, it will target the mechanisms of biological ageing itself.
'That will propel our ability to address physical and cognitive functional decline, enhance resilience in the face of illness or disease, and ultimately delay the onset of disability and death.'
On Monday, the biggest prize in the longevity field comes closer as 40 semi-finalist teams are pulled from the XPrize longlist, which comprised more than 1,000 scientists, clinicians, biomedical engineers, longevity technology leaders, pharmaceutical companies, students, biohacker groups and newcomers to the field.
These teams – 14 of which come from the UK – have suggested a wide range of innovations including pharmacological approaches, biological therapies and lifestyle-based interventions, and often combinations of all three.
A common focus of solutions is to regenerate or maintain cellular and tissue function over time through biologics such as stem cell therapy. Immunotherapies and seeking to reverse age-related gene change at the molecular level are another approach.
New or repurposed drugs are frequently posited as solutions by the competing teams, including metformin and rapamycin, for both of which funding has long been sought to clinically prove what many hope will be a breakthrough in anti-ageing.
Of the devices proposed, most focus on electrical stimulation of neural pathways, neuromuscular activation or muscle maintenance.
No matter how technologically advanced the oncoming solutions, Justice says nothing will replace diet and exercise – albeit highly personalised and specific techniques – as the central element in healthy ageing.
'We're not talking about your five a day here,' she said. 'While wholefoods and supplements are the most commonly proposed nutritional solutions from our teams, they're often suggested in combination with substances like nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a naturally occurring molecule that is gaining attention as a potential anti-ageing agent.'
Nutraceuticals – foods that offer health benefits beyond their nutritional value – also feature, with a focus on wheatgrass, seaweed, berries, proteins, amino acids, herbal products and metabolism-supporting compounds.
Lifestyle and behavioural approaches are also prominent, often combined with cognitive training, sleep optimisation and community engagement. The most frequent combinations include aerobic and resistance exercise with dietary changes, as well as sleep health paired with meditation, prayer or breathing exercises.
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This is one of the simplest ways to regulate your body clock, even if your bedtime shifts. Build a short wind-down routine you can stick to. This might involve being screen-free for 15-30 minutes, or doing low-stimulation activities such as reading, writing and light stretching before sleep. Ensure your bedroom is dark, cool and as quiet as you can make it. Cut off caffeine after 2pm and limit alcohol in the evening. I often prescribe my 2/2/2 rule to my clients; no more than two alcoholic drinks, no more than two times per week, and not within two hours of bed. What changes can you expect to see from making these changes? After one day: The first change you are likely to notice is an increase in your energy levels, Thompson says. 'Simply moving more, especially outdoors in natural light, and having a better night of sleep can have an almost immediate impact on how you feel.' After one week: Seven days in, the compounding effects of regular movement and targeted mobility work should be coming to fruition. 'You may start to notice stiffness and muscle tension easing up, and your body feeling a little looser,' Thompson says. After one month: Sticking to the behaviours above, Thompson says you will likely feel more mobile and stronger after a month, with higher energy levels and less stiffness throughout the day. 'By this point, the actions start to feel more like habits and become part of your routine, rather than a chore you need to remind yourself to do,' he adds. After one year: A year is a long time to stick to anything, but if you can habituate some – or all – of Thompson's recommendations, he says you can 'expect to feel substantially better day-to-day'. 'Your movement will feel easier, and both your physical and mental energy will be at new highs. These changes will have become a natural part of your life, and a day where you don't hit 10,000 steps will feel odd and strangely uncomfortable,' he continues. 'You'll be creating opportunities to get outside and move your body; your overall nutrition will look different, with protein, fibre, vegetables and beans taking centre stage; and you'll protect your sleep like you protect your exercise time.' The mindset shift that makes the greatest difference of all There is one further recurring theme Thompson has spotted among his successful clients – and it's not physical. 'One of my biggest learnings over the years is that many clients start their fitness journey with short-term, appearance-driven goals – losing weight for a holiday, looking good for an event or fitting back into some old wardrobe favourites,' he explains. 'But what's been interesting to witness, time and time again, is how quickly those goals shift. Once people begin training consistently and start feeling the benefits, their perspective changes. Aesthetic goals take a back seat to something deeper: how they feel in their bodies and how well they can live their lives. That mindset shift is where the real transformation happens.' Thompson works with a diverse range of clients, from business founders and bankers to stage performers and doctors. And after training with him for some time, one of their greatest goals invariably becomes living better for longer. 'I genuinely love that this mindset shift happens so often,' he says. 'I regularly use it to help clients realise that the ability to feel great and remain physically capable in your sixties, seventies, and eighties doesn't begin when you get there – it starts in your thirties, forties, and fifties. This is the prime window to elevate your health and strength, future-proofing your body for the decades ahead.'
