Longitude Prize on ALS launches to award £7.5 million to AI drug target discoveries for most common form of MND

The Longitude Prize on ALS is a new £7.5 million global challenge prize to incentivise and reward cutting edge AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for the treatment of ALS, the most common form of MND. 

Open for entries from 25 June until 3 December 2025, it will initially award 20 teams £100,000 each in early 2026, with one team going on to win £1 million at the end of the five year Prize. 

Although some very limited treatments exist to slow the progression of ALS for a short time, the complexity of the disease means that there are no long-term treatments and no cure. For the first time, however, advances in AI mean innovators now have the opportunity to outpace the disease by unlocking vast quantities of patient data that have been generated in the last decade. 

Beyond financial reward, successful applicants will gain access to the largest and most comprehensive collections of ALS patient data of its kind, combining multiple types of biological information and brought together specifically for the Prize. This helps address a major challenge in ALS research, where data is often fragmented and difficult to access due to differing formats and restrictions. 

Seeking innovators from across medical research, biotech, techbio, pharmaceuticals and AI, the Prize will support the top 20 most promising applications who show high potential in both their proposed methodology and team make-up, which should bring together expertise from across multiple disciplines including ALS research and computational biology. 

The Prize is principally funded by the MND Association and designed and delivered by Challenge Works, supported by Nesta, alongside additional global funders, including My Name'5 Doddie Foundation.

Lucy Hawking, journalist and daughter of the MND Association’s late Patron, Prof. Stephen Hawking said: “The Longitude Prize on ALS is a vital and important step towards increasing our understanding of motor neuron disease, and specifically ALS. Drug breakthroughs over the past couple of years, combined with rapid developments surrounding AI, put us at an exciting crossroads, where there is real promise in making marked advancements in MND research and treatment, both of which can improve quality of life for people living with the disease as well as their loved ones across the globe.” 

For more information and details of how to enter the Longitude Prize on ALS, visit als.longitudeprize.org