THE ARISING · Longevity & Healthspan
XPRIZE Awards $1 Million to Team Testing Elamipretide in Older Adults
A drug that targets the energy-making parts of cells has won $1 million in a major longevity competition. Whether it helps older people stay stronger, sharper or more resilient is still unknown.
This article is based on Longevity.Technology's report of the award. The underlying pilot data and the company's announcement were not reviewed by The Arising.
According to Longevity.Technology, Mighty Therapeutics and the University of Washington, led by Dr David Marcinek, were named one of ten Milestone 2 Awardees in the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan competition. Each team receives $1 million and moves into the final phase.
The drug is elamipretide. Longevity.Technology describes it as a first-in-class peptide aimed at mitochondria, the structures inside cells that produce energy. According to the report, it binds to cardiolipin, a lipid important to mitochondrial structure, to improve how mitochondria are built and how they work. In theory, that could help preserve a cell's ability to make energy.
The award rests on a pilot study in older adults. Here the report offers little. It says the results were not shared in the announcement. There is no word on how many people took part, how long the study ran or what it found. Marcinek himself calls the results "feasibility data," according to the report. That wording suggests the pilot was meant to show a larger trial is workable, not to show the drug works.
Longevity.Technology notes the company has a regulatory approval in a rare disease. Mighty's first commercial therapy was approved by the FDA in September 2025 for Barth syndrome, according to the report. That is a different condition and a different population from healthy older adults. It does not show benefit in aging.
The next step is a bigger test. Marcinek said the team can now design a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of whether elamipretide improves muscle, cognitive and immune function in older adults. In such a study, neither participants nor researchers know who gets the drug and who gets a placebo. It is a standard way to separate real effects from expectation.
Those three areas are the ones XPRIZE wants to see improved. Mighty's chief scientific officer, Dr David A Brown, argues that mitochondrial dysfunction is a central driver across many diseases. The report notes he has a stake in that view as the chief scientist of a mitochondria company. It also stresses that an award at this stage rewards a plan and early data, and that the real test is still ahead.
According to the report, finalists must run placebo-controlled trials through 2029. In 2030 the judges may award up to $81 million to teams whose interventions successfully improve muscle, cognitive and immune function. Longevity.Technology points out that nothing guarantees anyone collects the full amount. It also cautions that pilot studies are small and larger trials can humble early promise.
What to watch next
Whether the team publishes its pilot results and the design of its randomized trial, and what that trial finds by the time judging arrives in 2030.