The Biggest XPRIZE Yet Seeks Therapies that Roll Back the Depredations of Aging

Budimir Jevtic/SHUTTERSTOCK

If death is our inescapable fate, it's probably safe to say that “old age” would be one of the preferred causes (along with "by chocolate"). But most people would probably also agree that it's not just years, but good health, that matters.

To use the latest buzzword, we don’t merely want a long lifespan, but a long “healthspan” — the period of time, however long, that we can enjoy life, do stuff, feel good and remain free of debilitating disease. Long life with good health is the topic of the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan, a new, seven-year competition from the XPRIZE Foundation that seeks to speed the development of therapeutics to protect and extend the function of three key physiological features. It’s the latest example of the foundation’s strategy to use multimillion-dollar competitions, now dating back 20 years, to spur needed solutions and innovation. It’s also the largest XPRIZE to date, drawing funds from several backers.

XPRIZE says the $101 million purse will go to the team that develops “a proactive, accessible therapeutic that restores muscle, cognition and immune function by a minimum of 10 years, with a goal of 20 years, in persons aged 65-80 years, in one year or less.” Maybe not a fountain of youth, but definitely a fountain of significantly younger.

Modern medicine has certainly made important gains in the piecemeal treatment of individual diseases, and these advances have extended healthspan to some degree — but, says XPRIZE, not as much as it has extended lifespan. In other words, sometimes, medical care enables people to live longer, but not necessarily with a good quality of life.

The age-old search for elixirs, potions, amulets or alchemies that prolong or restore youth and vigor is as old as the first crotchety knee. So, what makes XPRIZE think that now is a good time to commit such a large sum to such an elusive goal?

“It's in this decade that we have a confluence, a convergence of massive computing, AI, quantum technologies, cellular medicines, biotech, epigenetic reprogramming,” said Peter Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE. “All of these technologies are coming together to give us a brand-new set of tools to understand why we age, how to slow it, and restore function.” The goal of the prize, he says, is to attract and coordinate capital investment, research and regulatory support in a grand mission to extend healthspan.

XPRIZE is best known for sponsoring contests in search of solutions to pressing problems or challenges facing humanity. Previously launched and currently running XPRIZE contest topics include carbon removal, wildfire-fighting solutions, alternative food protein sources, and rainforest science. It made a big splash with its first XPRIZE: the $10 million Ansari Prize for the first nongovernment team to launch a reusable spacecraft. Most of the prizes have been around $10 million to $15 million, but the carbon removal XPRIZE (sponsored by Elon Musk) has a $100 million pot. At $101 million, XPRIZE Healthspan is the largest yet, if only by $1 million.

A big chunk of the Healthspan prize was contributed by Hevolution Foundation, a Saudi Arabia-based nonprofit supported by the Saudi government as well as individual donors, that's focused on finding solutions for healthy aging. Another key backer is apparel industry businessman and Lululemon founder Chip Wilson and the nonprofit he founded, Solve FSHD, which is dedicated to finding a cure for the genetic disorder facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. Several other individuals, including Diamandis, have also made multimillion-dollar contributions to the prize.

Therapies that keep seniors' minds and bodies healthier longer would benefit not just older individuals and their families. Such solutions would also benefit global economies, says XPRIZE. Healthier seniors consume fewer healthcare resources, work and contribute longer, buy and spend more, and are better able to help their families. XPRIZE cites studies suggesting that extending just one healthy year of life is worth $38 trillion to the global economy, while extending healthy life by 10 years could be worth more than $300 trillion. Meanwhile, the world's population of over-60s is growing fast.

Yet, as amazing as the new medical and research advances Diamandis cites may be, it’s far from certain it will be possible to develop drugs or other therapies that will improve the aspects of aging and health outlined in the Healthspan challenge. Some problems of health and aging, like Alzheimer's and dementia, have for decades proved stubbornly difficult to solve, and while $101 million is a strong incentive, money can't solve everything. Heck, big pharma loses $101 million in the couch cushions every year while spending billions on drug development, and fails more often than not. On top of the sheer biomedical difficulty of creating new drugs and therapies is the whole legal regulatory process, including but not limited to the FDA and other world regulatory agencies.

These regulatory hurdles and the fragmented nature of research and industry are not lost on XPRIZE, which is to its credit. XPRIZE Healthspan organizers say the initiative is designed to foster new research and regulatory relationships and frameworks that will be necessary to enable academic researchers, pharma companies, the NIH and other federal science institutions, and other stakeholders already active in the healthspan space to work together, to fly in formation to achieve these complex goals.

“I can tell you from working intimately in that space that by trying to do this through traditional means — going through federal funds, applying for grants, getting things funded ahead of time — we haven't been able to make the actual change that's needed,” said Jamie Justice, executive vice president of the health domain at XPRIZE Foundation. “All the barriers in the therapeutic development space are magnified when you don't have a common framework to play from. We're looking to incentivize new strategies and new approaches.”

The new XPRIZE doesn’t arrive in a vacuum: The healthspan movement is having a moment. Netflix is currently streaming a popular documentary series called "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones," based on the work of longevity journalist Dan Buettner, who has collected stories of communities around the world with unusually high numbers of healthy centenarians. And medical doctor Peter Attia has become podcast-famous for his efforts to advance research-based ideas for healthy aging, also explained in his bestselling book “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.”

Even if within seven years the XPRIZE Healthspan program doesn't result in an amazing pill that protects and restores cognitive, immune and muscle health, it could well lead to valuable and usable medical advances in some or all these aspects. Besides, who knows? Maybe it's not totally unreasonable to think the competition's goals can be achieved. We need only to look back on the COVID experience to see how mRNA technology and a well-motivated research and development industry enabled creation of vaccines within months, rather than the years required under traditional approaches.

There will always be a market for the fight against aging. “There's an old saying,” says Diamandis. “‘The man or woman who has her health has 1,000 dreams, but if you don't have your health, you just have one.’”