Health

XPRIZE Healthspan

Healthy aging made possible

Active
2023 - 2030
Track+Phase
2023 - 2030
  • 1
     
    Launch
  • 2
     
    Launch
Prize Purse
$101 Million

XPRIZE Healthspan is revolutionizing healthy aging, challenging teams to create innovative therapies that restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years (with a goal of 20), to make healthy aging possible for everyone. 

Play Icon
  • Play Icon
    Now Playing

Sponsors

Sponsors fund the prize journey from bold idea to breakthrough—shaping each competition, supporting global teams, and accelerating solutions that scale. Their backing powers impact that lasts well beyond the prize.

Partners

Partners play a hands-on role in our prizes—co-designing competitions, supporting operations, and helping scale solutions with their expertise, resources, and global reach.

Advisors + Experts + Operations

Steven Austad, PhD
Steven Austad, PhD Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Biology, University of Alabama Birmingham
Nir Barzilai, MD
Nir Barzilai, MD Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Daniel Belsky, PhD
Daniel Belsky, PhD Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Butler Columbia Aging Center
Kim Branson, PhD
Kim Branson, PhD Senior Vice President and Global Head of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Peggy M. Cawthon, PhD, MPH
Peggy M. Cawthon, PhD, MPH Scientific Director of CPMC Research Institute
Eva Chin, PhD
Eva Chin, PhD Executive Director, SOLVE FSHD
Aubrey de Grey, PhD
Aubrey de Grey, PhD Founder, President and Chief Science Officer of LEV Foundation
William J. Evans, PhD
William J. Evans, PhD Adjunct Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics at the Duke University Medical Center
Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD
Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD Scientific Director at the National Institute of Aging
Kaivan Khavandi, MD, MRes, PhD, MBA, MRCP
Kaivan Khavandi, MD, MRes, PhD, MBA, MRCP SVP, Research & Development at GSK
George Kuchel, MD, CM, FRCP, AGSF
George Kuchel, MD, CM, FRCP, AGSF Professor of Medicine, Travelers Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology at University of Connecticut
Michael Kyba, PhD
Michael Kyba, PhD Professor of Pediatrics and Carrie Ramey / CCRF Endowed Professor in Pediatric Cancer Research
Morgan Levine, PhD
Morgan Levine, PhD Principal Investigator
Patrick Maxwell, PhD
Patrick Maxwell, PhD Regius Professor of Physics and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine
Huong D. Meeks, MPH, MSTAT, PhD
Huong D. Meeks, MPH, MSTAT, PhD Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Faculty Epidemiologist
Thomas Osborne, MD
Thomas Osborne, MD Chief Medical Officer
Graham Pawelec, MA, PhD, FGSA
Graham Pawelec, MA, PhD, FGSA Professor of Experimental Immunology
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Thomas Rando, MD, PhD Director
Perminder Sachdev, AM, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRANZCP, FAAHMS
Perminder Sachdev, AM, MBBS, MD, PhD, FRANZCP, FAAHMS Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Co-Director
Nicholas Schork, PhD
Nicholas Schork, PhD Deputy Director and Professor of Quantitative Medicine
Risa Starr, MBA, MPH
Risa Starr, MBA, MPH CEO
Erwin Tan
Erwin Tan Director of Thought Leadership and Health
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD
Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD Founder and CEO

Barrier

Traditional medicine focuses on treating symptoms of illness, injury, or disease only after they develop. This reactive system extends life but fails to proactively improve health, leaving millions grappling with declining quality of life and related economic challenges in their later years.

Breakthrough

Proactive, accessible therapeutics that target the biology of aging to reduce the risk of chronic age-related diseases, restore function, and increase human healthspan. By using reliable biomarkers, defined by this prize, to measure biological aging, teams can validate progress and extend quality of life well into our later years, creating the potential for more active, fulfilling decades as we age.

About the Prize

XPRIZE Healthspan is a 7-year, $101 million global competition to revolutionize the way we approach human aging.

People around the world are living longer, but spend more of their lives in poorer health. To tackle this problem, competing teams will develop and test therapeutics that restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years, with an ambitious goal of 20 years, to extend healthy life. 

This means more time with loved ones, more energy for learning and purpose, and fewer years lost to disability or dependence. These solutions could help ease economic burdens on individuals, families, and healthcare systems around the world.

This radically collaborative effort will bring together top scientists, clinicians, policymakers, industry experts, and nonprofits to drive new science and create a future where healthy aging is made possible for everyone. 

Prize Schedule

The competition launched in 2023. Teams are currently advancing through development and testing phases. Finalist judging will occur in 2026, with safe and accessible winning solutions that restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function in older persons.

Tracks

The $101M XPRIZE Healthspan and $10M FSHD Bonus Prize run in parallel, with teams able to compete in either or both tracks.

XPRIZE Healthspan

The $101M XPRIZE Healthspan competition challenges teams to develop safe and accessible therapeutics that restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years, with a goal of 20 years in persons aged 50-80 years.

FSHD Bonus Prize

The $10M FSHD Bonus Prize incentivizes therapeutics that substantially improve muscle function based on fat infiltration, biomarkers, and function in people aging with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).

Competition Materials

Welcome to the Resources page for the $101M XPRIZE Healthspan and $10M FSHD Bonus Prize. We will be updating the contents of this page with more resources as they become available. Additional topics not covered below should be queried to [email protected].

In an effort to bring awareness to information on funding opportunities that may be applicable for any of our competing teams, we will periodically post funding announcements that are open to the public and related to healthspan and healthy aging.

Please note, XPRIZE Foundation, Inc. encourages every team to diligently review every opportunity listed on this resource page and the requirements set by these third parties. XPRIZE is listing these funding opportunities on an “as-is” basis and makes NO guarantee on any decision made for an award.

Primary Registration closed in December 2024 but teams may still request to apply to join the competition through Discretionary Late Registration. The following are introductory resources that provide important information for all teams interested in competing.

XPRIZE has sole discretion to register and qualify additional teams across XPRIZE Healthspan and the FSHD Bonus Prize from the close of their respective registrations until the Discretionary Late Registration deadline. Teams that register during this period must meet all preceding registration and submission requirements and pay a late registration fee between USD $10,000 (Discretionary Late Registration after Milestone 1; February 2025 - April 2026 ) and $100,000 (Discretionary Late Registration after Milestone 2; Aug 2026 - July 2027).
Please follow these instructions on how to submit a late application for teams who did not complete a Qualifying Submission for Milestone 1.

  • Submit a 1-page Letter of Intent to [email protected]. Email should be titled as “[TEAM NAME] Request for Late Registration: Letter of Intent Included" or another closely similar format.
  • Your Letter of Intent should include a brief overview about your team, your proposed therapeutic, your rationale for its use in XPRIZE Healthspan, and any supportive data available. You may either include the Letter of Intent as a file attached, or write it out directly in the email.
  • Clearly make mention if your team is affiliated with a University, Non-Profit, or other type of academic or public research institution. You may be eligible for a waived or discounted Late Registration Fee (teams must be able to provide proof of eligibility if requested).
  • The XPRIZE Healthspan staff will screen all incoming requests, and the Executive Director will approve or deny the request.
  • If your late registration request is approved, we will provide further instructions to complete a Registration Form, Registration Fee, Read and Sign the Competitor Agreement, and finally upload a Qualifying Submission on the Prize Operations Platform (POP).
  • Once a late-registrant team has completed all of the above activities on POP, XPRIZE Healthspan will assign these ad-hoc applications to the Judging Panel to determine if the application merits them as a Qualifying Team.

All teams must sign the Competitor Agreement via their legal entity’s authorized signatory in order to be fully registered in the competition. Teams competing for Milestone 1 Awards must return a signed Agreement by March 1, 2025.

PLEASE NOTE: Signatures are required via Docusign. Competing teams must access the POP competition portal to first confirm acknowledgement of the Agreement. A Read-Only copy of the Competitor Agreement is linked above in PDF for review purposes only.

The goals of the Team Summits are to gather, discuss, and review with competing teams their questions regarding eligibility and testing/study plans within the competition, as well as an opportunity to be informed of any important technical and administrative updates.

Inaugural Team Summit at ARDD 2024: Copy of Presentation Deck (PDF)

Inaugural Team Summit at ARDD 2024: Link to Livestream footage

Milestone 1 Investor Summit Deck (May 13th 2025)

Milestone 1 Team Summit Deck (May 14th 2025)

Milestone 1 Team Pitch Decks (May 13th – 14th 2025)

For competing Teams, please refer to the following resources for information on how to enter a Qualifying Submission for XPRIZE Healthspan and the FSHD Bonus Prize.

XPRIZE Healthspan Qualifying Submission Guidelines (PDF)

FSHD Bonus Prize Qualifying Submission Guidelines (PDF)


Example template for Qualifying Submissions (PDF)

Example template for Semi-Finals Study Timeline (.DOCX)


IMPORTANT: All Qualifying Submissions from Teams must be submitted through the XPRIZE Prize Operations Platform. We will not accept any submissions through any other form of transmission.

Get Updates on Health

Sign Up for the XPRIZE Newsletter

* All fields are required