A new £7.5 million global challenge prize launches today to drive AI-led innovation in the discovery of new drug treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The Longitude Prize on ALS will incentivise and reward cutting-edge AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for the disease.

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.

The Longitude Prize on ALS is an initiative of Nesta’s Challenge Works, a global leader in the design and delivery of open innovation challenges and the team behind the £8 million Longitude Prize on AMR. The new prize is principally funded by the Motor Neurone Disease Association and supported by Nesta, alongside additional global funders.

The five-year prize will see global multidisciplinary teams compete in a three-phased programme to identify, prioritise and validate high-potential drug targets for ALS. To drive discovery, the prize has brought together a range of ALS datasets, working with data holders worldwide, and participants will be provided with access to these data, funding, compute, technical expertise and a range of additional support and partnership opportunities.

As well as the financial reward, the successful teams will gain access to the largest and most comprehensive collection 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.

The prize will be open for entries from 5 June until 3 December 2025. To find out more about the prize visit als.longitudeprize.org