As Finalist teams advance toward clinical trials, 10 Awardees will each receive $1 million to accelerate the development of their breakthrough therapies.
Imagine reaching your 70s or 80s with the strength to keep moving, the clarity to stay engaged, and the independence to continue living life on your own terms. For too many people, the later decades of life are marked not by vitality, but by chronic disease, disability, and declining function.
What if we could change what it means to grow old? People are living longer than ever before, but increasing lifespan is only one part of the equation. The greater challenge is extending healthspan, the number of years people live in good health.
That is the challenge the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan competition was created to solve.
The goal is not simply to add years to life. It is to add life to those years by helping people remain physically strong, mentally sharp, and independent for as long as possible. As populations age and age-related conditions continue to rise worldwide, improving healthspan has become one of the defining scientific and public health challenges of our time.
Today, XPRIZE announced the 20 Finalist teams advancing to the next stage of the competition, marking a major milestone in the global race to transform how we age. Among the finalists, 10 teams from the United States, South Korea, Japan, and China were selected as Milestone 2 awardees and will each receive a $1 million award, totaling $10 million in milestone funding, to accelerate the development and clinical testing of innovative therapies designed to extend healthy years of life. In addition to funding, the teams will gain access to key clinical testing resources to support the next phase of their work.
Inside the Race to Redefine Aging
Launched in 2023, the seven-year, $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan competition is the first incentive health competition of its kind dedicated to accelerating the development and clinical testing of proactive, accessible interventions that target the biology of aging itself. Rather than treating age-related diseases after they occur, the competition challenges teams to restore muscle, cognitive, and immune function by at least 10 years—with an ambitious target of 20 years—in adults ages 50 to 90, all within one year or less of treatment. If successful, these breakthroughs have the potential to help millions of people live longer, healthier, and more independent lives.
Following a rigorous evaluation process, judges selected the awardees and finalist cohort based on the strength of their scientific rationale, the scalability and accessibility of their therapeutic approaches, and, importantly, their readiness to enter the competition's clinical trial phase. Together, the finalist teams represent a diverse range of approaches targeting the biology of aging, including:
- Novel medicines and biologics designed to improve metabolism, reduce inflammation, protect neurons, and repair damaged cells.
- Regenerative approaches, including stem cell and gene-based therapies, that support cellular repair, energy production, and tissue health.
- Extracellular vesicles and other next-generation delivery technologies that harness the body's natural processes to promote rejuvenation.
- AI-enabled precision health and personalized care models that combine data, existing medicines, nutraceuticals, and lifestyle interventions to optimize healthy aging.
While each team is pursuing a different scientific strategy, they share a common goal: developing evidence-based interventions that can help people live longer, healthier, and more independent lives.
XPRIZE Milestone 2 Awardees are:
- AgelessRx, USA
- Goda Lab (NanoTitan / University of Tokyo /& Tokyo RELIFE Clinic ), Japan
- Johns Hopkins-Suninflam (Suninflam Inc. & Johns Hopkins University), USA
- Longeveron, Inc., USA
- Minicircle Inc., USA
- Mitochondrial All Stars (Mighty Therapeutics Inc./ Univ. Washington), USA
- NYC-Vita (Mount Sinai Health System), USA
- RETRO-EPIGERNA (Macau University of Science & Technology), China
- RPRGAON-Progeria (PRG S&Tech), South Korea
- TIME TRAVELER – Plant-EVs, Japan
The Next Phase of Better Aging
From 2026 to 2029, finalists will conduct rigorous clinical trials — lasting up to one year each — evaluating therapeutics designed to restore muscle, cognition, and immune function in adults aged 50 to 90. The University of Utah's Data Coordinating Center (Utah DCC) will oversee trial and data management coordination and University of California San Diego (UCSD) Stein Institute for Research on Aging will coordinate the shared laboratories, biomarkers, and storage of blood and cells data management across the competition.
The competition will culminate in 2030, when XPRIZE will award up to $81 million, one of the largest incentive prizes ever offered for a single scientific breakthrough. Beyond the prize itself, XPRIZE Healthspan is helping reshape the future of clinical research by creating a new model for evaluating therapies that target the biology of aging, accelerating the evidence needed to advance the field.
These teams are now racing to demonstrate that healthier aging isn't just an aspiration; it's an achievable scientific goal. For more information about the XPRIZE Healthspan Finalists, visit here.