NCATS Launches Challenge to Spotlight Rare Disease Research

Rare Daily Staff

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences announced the launch of its 2025-2026 Rare Diseases Are Not Rare! Challenge, a call for the public to use creative digital communications to raise awareness about the importance of rare disease research.

The challenge will award $5,000 in prizes and build upon the previous Rare Diseases Are Not Rare! Challenges in 2018 and 2020, which used artistic works to raise awareness that rare diseases, while individually uncommon, collectively affect millions. NCATS noted that rare disease awareness often remains fragmented, with conditions typically addressed individually. This has reinforced the misconception that rare diseases are isolated problems, rather than widespread, interconnected challenges.

With more than 10,000 rare diseases identified, the goal of the new challenge is to inspire creative voices to highlight how advances in one area of research can ripple through others, leading to more treatments for a broader range of people. Currently, only about 5 percent of all rare diseases have FDA-approved treatments. Patients often wait six to eight years, or longer, for an accurate diagnosis, only to find that there is no therapy for their condition. Approaches developed for one disease often pave the way for others through shared biology, repurposed treatments, and similar strategies.

Collaborative, cross-disease methods have also demonstrated that models used for one rare condition, such as clinical trial designs, can be adapted for use across multiple diseases. The challenge invites submissions of original, creative works that highlight both the burden and opportunities associated with rare diseases. Accepted entries include music videos, original songs, spoken word performances, dramatic readings, poems, posters, paintings, comics, collages, animations, or infographics, with a maximum duration of two minutes.

Submissions are due January 2, 2026, and winners will be announced in February 2026.