The Longitude Prize on ALS, a £7.5 million global challenge prize, has launched to incentivize cutting-edge AI-based approaches for transforming drug discovery in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of motor neurone disease (MND). The competition represents an unprecedented effort to harness artificial intelligence and vast patient datasets to tackle a disease that affects 1 in 300 people, with approximately 90% of MND cases being ALS.
Disease Complexity Drives Innovation Need
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that damages nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing signals from the brain to stop reaching muscles and leading to severe muscle degeneration. Eventually, the disease affects muscles used for swallowing and breathing. While some limited treatments exist to slow disease progression for short periods, the complexity of ALS means there are currently no long-term treatments and no cure.
"ALS is astonishingly complex which is why it has been so difficult to develop treatments that truly fight this hideous disease," said Tris Dyson, Managing Director at Challenge Works, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2023. "Tireless fundraising in the last decade has created a wealth of data on ALS that just didn't exist before, and we are at a turning point."
AI Advancement Creates New Opportunities
The prize leverages recent advances in artificial intelligence that now enable researchers to unlock vast quantities of patient data generated over the past decade. Dyson emphasized the transformative potential: "Never before have we had the power to unlock the complexity of MND, and in particular ALS, and accelerate along the road to long-term treatments, and, I hope one day, a cure."
The competition will provide successful applicants access to the largest collection of ALS patient data of its kind via DNANexus, hosted on Amazon Web Services. This dataset is provided through partnerships with Project MinE, Answer ALS, New York Genome Center (NYGC), ALS Compute, and the ALS Therapy Development Institute.
Multi-Stage Competition Structure
The prize seeks innovators from medical research, biotech, techbio, pharmaceuticals, and AI sectors. The competition follows a structured progression:
- Initial Stage (2026): Twenty promising entrants will receive "Discovery Awards" of £100,000 each, judged on their approach's potential to identify and validate drug targets
- Second Stage (2027): Ten teams will progress to receive £200,000 to build evidence for their proposed therapeutic targets in silico and in laboratory settings
- Third Stage (2028): Five teams will receive £500,000 to undertake validation of the highest potential identified targets in wet lab conditions
- Final Award (2031): One winning team will receive £1 million for identifying the target with the strongest evidence of therapeutic potential
The entry window remains open until December 3, 2025, with the first 20 successful entrants to be named in the first half of 2026.
Funding and Support Coalition
The Motor Neurone Disease Association serves as the principal funder, with the prize designed and delivered by Challenge Works, supported by Nesta. Additional funding comes from Nesta, the Alan Davidson Foundation, My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, LifeArc, FightMND, The 10,000 Brains Project, Answer ALS, and The Packard Center at Johns Hopkins.
"Empowering some of the brightest minds across science and technology to come together, the Longitude Prize on ALS will initiate transformative change for people living with motor neurone disease," said Tanya Curry, Chief Executive at the Motor Neurone Disease Association. "We are investing as a principal funder as enabling such collaborations, as well as the level of unprecedented data we're working to unlock, marks the start of a significant milestone for drug discovery."
Historical Context and Hope
Lucy Hawking, journalist and daughter of the late Professor Stephen Hawking, who served as the MND Association's Patron, expressed support for the initiative. "My father lived with MND for over 50 years, the longest known survivor with this condition and his great wish was that one day, a cure would be found," she said. "I'm proud to support the Longitude Prize and wish all entrants the very best."
The Longitude Prize on ALS represents the third such challenge run by Challenge Works, following the Longitude Prize on AMR that announced a winner in 2024, and the ongoing Longitude Prize on Dementia that will announce a winner in 2026.
