Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing

Open EU call topic HORIZON-EIC-2026-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-02 · HORIZON EIC Grants. Part of call HORIZON-EIC-2026-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01: EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026. Next deadline 2026-10-28. Topic page: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-EIC-2026-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01-02

Expected Impact: This Challenge looks to accelerate the development and uptake of clinically validated interventions that target the root cause of multiple age-related morbidities. It will: - Deliver biotechnology-based interventions for healthy ageing - Accelerate the implementation of personalised care in ageing based on molecular phenotyping​ - Provide recommendations for regulatory pathways addressing ageing as a target to inform developers, regulators, and other decision makers​, and - Improve citizen literacy on longevity.

Expected Outcome: Ambitious proposals put forward under this call will deliver: - Proof-of-concepts (TRL3 completed) of biotechnology-based or pharmaceutical interventions that prevents or delays the onset of, or reverts, an age-related disease in a vertebrate model system, based on the hallmarks of ageing, taking into consideration practical challenges of implementing such an intervention - Tools to facilitate development or adoption of the interventions above, such as proof-of-concept validation of biomarker signatures or suitable pre-clinical models​, and - Approaches to address the shared regulatory hurdles and societal challenges linked to ageing-related interventions, thereby facilitating their adoption​.

Portfolio approach The portfolio of projects selected under this Challenge will ensure a coverage of projects developing interventions, biomarkers and NAMs, considering the following guidelines for portfolio composition: - Interventions: no more than 5 projects. The portfolio of selected projects should collectively address a variety molecular and cellular processes related to ageing,…