Over 600 competing teams from 58 countries entered global competition. Teams with a broad range of potential solutions for healthspan extension awarded in first round.
NEW YORK, May 12, 2025 -- XPRIZE, the world's leader in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions to solve humanity's grand challenges, today announced the first Milestone award winners and top semifinalist teams competing in the next stage of its XPRIZE Healthspan, a $101 million, 7-year global competition incentivizing teams to develop and test therapeutics to improve healthy aging and close the gap between life and health expectancy. XPRIZE also announced the eight finalist teams competing for the $10M Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) Bonus Prize. The announcement was made today at the XPRIZE Healthspan Awards Ceremony in New York City.
Global life expectancy has more than doubled in the last 100 years, but the quality of our health as we age has not increased at the same rate. In the U.S. there is currently a 12-year gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, or the period of life free of major chronic disease or disability. Launched in November 2023, the $101M XPRIZE Healthspan is the first health-focused competition of its kind, incentivizing teams to develop proactive, accessible therapeutic solutions that restore muscle, cognition, and immune function by a minimum of 10 years, with a goal of 20 years, in persons aged 50-80 years, in one year or less.
"The next breakthrough in aging could come from scientists and entrepreneurs, anywhere. With this prize, we're igniting a global healthspan revolution, and these semifinalists are leading the charge," said Peter H. Diamandis, MD, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE. "This competition isn't just accelerating progress, it's challenging our society's beliefs in what's possible when it comes to aging."
From over 600 registered teams across 58 countries, the Top 100 teams are recognized as semifinalists, with the Top 40 Healthspan teams and Top 8 FSHD Bonus Prize teams selected as Milestone 1 award winners based on their proposed therapeutic solution, scientific rationale, supporting evidence, strengths of team and clinical center, and proposals for clinical testing. Each Milestone 1 winner was awarded $250,000 to support their ongoing work and conduct clinical trials in the next phase of the competition.
The most prevalent solutions submitted by XPRIZE Healthspan teams fall into broad categories such as: biologic therapies, drugs and small molecules, lifestyle interventions, medical devices, and nutraceuticals and functional foods. Many teams indicate intent to pursue integrated, personalized strategies, combining approaches, like dietary interventions paired with new or generic drugs or even cell therapies. The teams propose therapies that affect a wide range of biological systems, from metabolism and inflammation to stem cells, and may have general health effects or specific targets like the mitochondria or the growth of neurons. No single system or approach dominates, highlighting the diversity of solutions being explored through the competition.
"We are thrilled by the unprecedented global response to this competition, and the powerful, innovative thinking and approaches we're seeing proposed by these teams," said Jamie Justice, Ph.D., executive director, XPRIZE Healthspan. "Our semifinalist teams are exploring a diverse array of strategies to extend healthspan, from biologics and devices to drugs, lifestyle interventions, and personalized monitoring, coupling breakthrough innovations with feasibility and safety. We're encouraged by these initial results and are eager to see how these solutions progress as they move toward clinical trials."
Note, registration in this competition remains open and teams are continuing to register to participate in follow-on rounds and the grand prize.
The following teams have been selected to advance as XPRIZE Healthspan Top 40 Milestone 1 awardees:
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All semifinalist teams - Top 100 and late-registering teams included - will begin early stage clinical trials over the next year and will submit their data in April 2026 for the next round of judging in the Healthspan competition. Translating findings from the lab to clinical testing is a major hurdle for teams as it requires safety assessment, regulatory approval, testing partners, and investors or funders. In July 2026, XPRIZE will announce the 10 finalists selected to receive the second $10 million milestone prize. These teams will then advance to finals and must test their therapeutic solution for up to one year in adults aged 50-80 years in clinical trials, running from 2026 to 2029. The finalists' trials will be supported by the University of Utah and its Data Coordinating Center (DCC), which will serve as the DCC for XPRIZE Healthspan. The competition will culminate in 2030, when the grand prize winner is awarded up to $81 million.
"Hevolution Foundation is dedicated to revolutionizing the healthspan science field and transforming the way we approach aging, as demonstrated by our support as the single-largest funder of XPRIZE Healthspan," said Dr. Mehmood Khan, CEO of Hevolution Foundation and Co-Title Sponsor of XPRIZE Healthspan. "We are thrilled with the progress made at this pivotal prize milestone and are eager to see how these promising solutions evolve. Together, we are driving toward the goal to propel aging research forward globally and achieve medical breakthroughs to help humanity live healthier, longer."
FSHD Bonus Prize
The FSHD Bonus Prize is designed to ignite solutions for FSHD, a genetic disease that impacts muscular function that has limited treatment options due to its complexity. Eight finalist teams received $250,000 each for demonstrating feasible FSHD solutions, an equal split of the $2 million Milestone 1 prize purse. The FSHD Bonus Prize will be awarded to the team that best demonstrates the ability to restore lost muscular function due to FSHD in one year or less and the first place team will receive $8 million.
The finalist teams include:
- Altay Therapeutics Inc., San Carlos, CA
- Ani Biome, San Francisco, CA
- Armatus Bio, Columbus, OH
- Asagi Labs, Nagano, Japan
- Beat-FSHD, Los Angeles, CA
- Epicrispr Biotechnologies, Inc., San Francisco, CA
- Modalis Therapeutics Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
- SNPM/Chu De Nice, Nice, France
"Chronic diseases like muscular dystrophy are a major contributor to the gap between lifespan and healthspan. New solutions are essential for people to live healthier, longer lives," said Chip Wilson, Founder and Chairman of SOLVE FSHD and Co-Title Sponsor of XPRIZE Healthspan. "XPRIZE Healthspan and SOLVE FSHD are here to push the boundaries of what healthy aging can look like. The next five years are going to show us what's possible."
XPRIZE Healthspan is offered with support from Co-Title Sponsors Hevolution Foundation and Chip Wilson, founder and chairman of SOLVE FSHD. GSK, a global biopharma company joins XPRIZE Healthspan as the Official Pharmaceutical Industry partner. Additional contributions from individual benefactors include Christian Angermayer, Carl B. Barney, the Blundy Family, Kas Bordier, Peter H. Diamandis, Charlie and Lorie Epstein, the Eleanor and Howard Morgan Family Foundation, Dana and Rob Hamwee, Daniel Krizek, Nancy and Howard Marks, Chris Ouwinga, Christian Peneff, SeneGence, Mark S. Siegel, Todd and Karen Wanek, Sergey Young, and an anonymous donor. Global scientific advisors, including the Scientific Director at National Institute on Aging, Senior Scientific Director at American Federation for Aging Research, Director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center, and Head of Clinical Medicine at University of Cambridge, have helped inform the prize design and will advise in various capacities throughout the competition.
Learn more and get involved at xprize.org/healthspan.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE is the recognized global leader in designing and executing large-scale competitions to solve humanity's greatest challenges. For over 30 years, our unique model has democratized crowd-sourced innovation and scientifically scalable solutions that accelerate a more equitable and abundant future. Donate, learn more, and co-architect a world of abundance with us at xprize.org.
About Hevolution
Founded on the belief that every person has the right to live a longer, healthier life, Hevolution Foundation is a global catalyst, partner, and convener on a mission to drive efforts to extend healthy human lifespan and understand the processes of aging. With a focus on aging as a treatable process, Hevolution Foundation aims to increase the number of aging-related treatments on the market, compress the timeline of drug development, and increase accessibility to therapeutics that extend healthy lifespan, also known as healthspan. A global non-profit organization headquartered in Riyadh with a North American hub and an annual budget of up to $1 billion, Hevolution Foundation plans to open offices in other global locations to support a cutting-edge, global ecosystem of talent to propel aging and geroscience research forward and achieve medical breakthroughs to help humanity live healthier, longer. Learn more at hevolution.com
About SOLVE FSHD
SOLVE FSHD is a venture philanthropic organization established to catalyze innovation and accelerate key research in finding a cure for FSHD, established by renowned Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist, Chip Wilson. The Wilson family has committed $100 million to kick-start funding into projects that support the organization's mission to find a cure for FSHD by 2027. The goal of SOLVE FSHD is to find a solution that can slow down or stop muscle degeneration, increase muscle regeneration and strength, and improve the quality of life for those living with FSHD. If you want to find out more about our efforts at SOLVE FSHD, please see our website - solvefshd.com
About GSK
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together. Find out more at gsk.com.
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