ARPA-H Commits $144 Million to Seven Teams Racing to Slow Human Aging

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health has awarded contracts to seven research teams under its PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience (PROSPR) program, committing up to $144 million over five years to develop tools and therapies that extend the number of years people live in good health. The initiative marks one of the federal government's most aggressive bets on aging science.

Seven Teams, Seven Approaches

ARPA-H structured PROSPR as a parallel competition across pharmaceutical, digital health, and biomarker research tracks. Stanford University is developing a healthspan score and testing it through a one-year lifestyle intervention using in-home digital health technology. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is conducting a Phase 3 hybrid trial testing three repurposed FDA-approved drugs for aging outcomes.

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health is mining multiple previous intervention trials to identify biomarkers that respond to aging interventions. Three pharmaceutical firms — Apollo Alpha, Cambrian BioPharma, and Linnaeus Therapeutics — are testing compounds targeting energy homeostasis, a novel rapamycin analog, and an agent with established cardiometabolic benefits, respectively. The University of Rochester rounds out the cohort with a high-potency compound study.

Why the Accelerated Timeline Matters

Unlike traditional aging research that tracks outcomes over decades, PROSPR's clinical trials are designed to measure results within one to three years. ARPA-H structured the program as milestone-based contracts rather than grants, meaning funding is contingent on meeting predefined research benchmarks. This structure favors teams that can deliver measurable progress quickly — and could produce actionable data far sooner than conventional geroscience programs.

What Researchers Should Watch For

While the seven primary awards are set, PROSPR's biomarker and digital health components may generate downstream opportunities as validated tools become available for broader research use. Scientists working on aging biomarkers, geroscience therapeutics, or digital health assessment technology should monitor ARPA-H's open funding portal for follow-on solicitations. The program sits within a broader ARPA-H investment that includes the Proactive Health Office and Resilient Systems Office portfolios, both of which maintain active solicitations. Additional analysis is available on the grantedai.com blog.