Mighty Therapeutics and University of Washington Team Named Milestone 2 Awardee in $101M XPRIZE Healthspan Competition

NEEDHAM, Mass., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Mighty Therapeutics (the "Company" or "Mighty"), a commercial-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new class of medicines that directly target mitochondrial dysfunction in rare and age-related diseases, today announced that a joint research team with the University of Washington (UW), led by David Marcinek, Ph.D., has been named a Milestone 2 Awardee in the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan competition. The award is premised on data from a pilot study evaluating elamipretide, Mighty's first-in-class mitochondria-targeted peptide, in older adults. These data will inform the design of a larger, controlled trial and Mighty's continued research into the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in aging.

"This recognition from XPRIZE Healthspan affirms what we've believed since our earliest research: that targeting mitochondrial energetics is one of the most powerful levers we have in medicine," said David A. Brown, Ph.D, Chief Scientific Officer at Mighty. "Impaired cellular energy production underlies every disease we seek to treat. Whether it presents early in life as a rare genetic condition or emerges decades later as a hallmark of aging, mitochondrial dysfunction is a central driver across pathologies. That view is what led us here, and this study led by Dr. Marcinek and his team is a meaningful step in extending mitochondrial research to advance healthy aging."

Elamipretide binds to cardiolipin, a lipid essential to mitochondrial structure, to improve mitochondrial structure and function, potentially preserving the cell's capacity to produce energy. Elamipretide is in late-stage development for rare and age-related conditions, including dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD), the leading cause of blindness among older adults.

"Our previous research supports the view that mitochondria are a key link between the molecular drivers of aging and age-related pathology leading to reduced quality of life," said Marcinek, professor of radiology at the UW School of Medicine and Co-Director of the UW Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute. "With these feasibility data in hand, we can now move forward to design a gold standard, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to test whether targeting mitochondria with elamipretide enhances healthy aging by improving muscle, cognitive, and immune function in older adults."

As one of the 10 Milestone 2 Awardees selected to receive a $1 million award, the Mighty and UW team are advancing into the final phase of XPRIZE Healthspan. That phase requires finalist teams to test their intervention in a rigorous, placebo-controlled clinical trial running through 2029. The competition will culminate in 2030, when the XPRIZE Healthspan judging panel may award up to $81 million to the team(s) whose intervention successfully improves muscle, cognitive and immune function in older adults.

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About Mighty Therapeutics

Mighty Therapeutics, together with its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Stealth BioTherapeutics, Inc., is advancing novel therapies for people living with diseases involving mitochondrial dysfunction. Grounded in rigorous science and inspired by meaningful patient partnerships, the company is building a proprietary pipeline to directly address bioenergetic deficits at the source.

In September 2025, Mighty marked a historic milestone with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its first commercial therapy, establishing both the first FDA-approved treatment for Barth syndrome and the first FDA-approved therapy to directly target mitochondria.

Today, Mighty's development portfolio encompasses rare and age-related diseases. Mighty continues to develop elamipretide in Barth syndrome, polymerase gamma related mitochondrial disease, and dry AMD. Mighty is also progressing its next-generation clinical candidate, bevemipretide, for ophthalmic and neurological pathologies, and continues to develop preclinical assets SBT-255 and SBT-589 for rare mitochondrial disorders. For more information, visit www.mightytx.com.

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SOURCE Mighty Therapeutics