XPRIZE throws a $101 million challenge: change the way we age

By Sunil Saxena

“The day before something is truly a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.”
— Peter H. Diamandis, Executive Chairman, XPrize Board

XPRIZE Healthspan Challenge certainly is an idea that can shake the way humans age.

So far, medicine and all research has focused on neutralising sickness and disease. The result is a dramatic increase in human lifespans. The global life expectancy has doubled in the last 100 years.

However, this increase in longevity has come at a price. It has brought in chronic old age ailments and misery reducing the joy of living longer.

This is where XPRIZE Healthspan wants to change the way medical research has been evolving. It has announced a prize money of $101 million for medical researchers and scientists to peep into their test tubes differently.

They have been given seven years – that is till 2030 – to find a solution that can lead to healthy ageing. The team that comes up with the best solution will walk away with $101 million.

The XPRIZE Healthspan Challenge makes an important distinction between healthspan and lifespan. The difference, as described on their website, is: “While lifespan denotes the years lived, healthspan underscores the years lived healthily and actively.”

In other words, the originators of the Challenge consider healthspan as the period of life spent in good health. There are no chronic diseases or disabilities that make ageing a curse. The stress is on the quality of life lived, and not on the duration.

As against this, lifespan has been defined as the total duration of an individual’s life, regardless of their health condition.

Watch this video to understand how XPRIZE Challenge can revolutionise ageing

What does the Challenge throwers want the winner to achieve?  “A cost-effective 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 within 12 or fewer months of treatment.”

Even more, they wants the therapy to be available to all, across the globe.

Interestingly, the Challenge is not open to governments. But biotechnology companies, academic investigators, research networks and institutes of all hues can participate on their own or join hands to work across disciplines, companies and nations.

A breakthrough is what the world needs to make the last years of our lives liveable.

Read also: 15 fun quotes that defy ageing