MND Association backs Challenge Prize to drive innovation
The MND Association has committed to a partnership with Challenge Works to support the Longitude Prize on ALS. The multi-million pound challenge Prize aims to encourage the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning approaches to transform drug discovery for the treatment of motor neurone disease (known internationally as ALS).
The charity will act as principal funder for the Prize, backing this innovative approach that seeks to harness big data to find treatments for MND.
Challenge prizes create a level playing field for innovators regardless of previous expertise, enabling the most promising ideas to progress with funding and expert support.
The Longitude Prize on ALS will ask innovators to consider how to use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and validate targets for transformative drug discovery. The global initiative will bring together AI-focused biotech, leading international experts in MND and computational biologists from around the world to encourage the development of ground-breaking collaborations.
The Prize will be introduced at the 35th International Symposium on ALS/MND in Montreal, Canada, in December before being officially launched in spring 2025.
It is expected to attract a range of companies from across the world already working in AI, to focus their skills and technology on discovering new ways to support the search for treatments for MND.
MND Association Chief Executive Tanya Curry said:
The Longitude Prize is an innovative approach which has the potential to be transformative for motor neurone disease research. We are investing as the principal funder, confident that the Prize will bring exciting new technologies and create unique collaborations, to accelerate the search for effective treatments for this brutal disease.
