On April 16, 2026 Nula Therapeutics (previously called Apollo Alpha), a biotechnology company developing a new class of medicines targeting the nuclear envelope of cells in order to treat chronic disease and extend healthspan, reported its launch with an up to $20 million award from the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) under its PROSPR (PROactive Solutions for Prolonging Resilience) program, bringing total funding to more than $30 million. Additionally, Nula Therapeutics announced its plans for a phase 1b clinical trial with its lead, small molecule asset NLT-101 in Q4, 2026 in metabolic dysfunction, as the company works to address a broad spectrum of chronic, age-related diseases.
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Nula is built on a fundamental insight: the integrity of the nuclear envelope, the structure that organizes DNA and governs gene expression, plays a central role in maintaining cellular identity and metabolic homeostasis. Degeneration or dysfunction of the nuclear envelope results in metabolic dysfunction and age-related decline. Restoring function of the nuclear envelope represents a novel strategy to treat chronic disease biology. By developing targeted small molecules that restore the nuclear envelope, Nula aims to treat unmet patient needs and extend healthspan across conditions including metabolic disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and neurodegeneration. With a clinic-ready asset, NLT-101, and a clinical study planned to begin later this year, Nula is positioned to generate meaningful data in support of its vision of next-generation medicines for chronic diseases.
"The nuclear envelope is one of the most fundamental and underexplored regulators of cellular health, and we believe it represents one of the most promising frontiers in medicine," said Christopher R. Shepard, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Nula Therapeutics and Principal Investigator on the Award. "Today’s announcement marks not only our debut as a company, but a significant external validation of our science. The ARPA-H award will allow us to rigorously explore NLT-101’s potential to preserve functional health across multiple organ systems, while our core clinical program in metabolic dysfunction moves forward in parallel."
Nils Regge, Founder and General Partner at Apollo Health Ventures, added, "PROSPR is highly relevant to our mission at Apollo Health Ventures. Establishing the evidence base and a clear regulatory pathway for therapeutics that improve healthspan, intrinsic capacity, and functional resilience is foundational to the field of longevity biotechnology. We are excited to see Nula’s program paving the way, and we look forward to seeing the company demonstrate the potential of NLT-101 beyond its initial clinical indication, with implications across multiple age-related conditions."
About the ARPA-H PROSPR Award
Under the ARPA-H PROSPR program, Nula Therapeutics will pursue a concurrent work stream designed to evaluate NLT-101’s impact on intrinsic capacity – a composite measure of physical, cognitive, sensory, and psychological function across multiple organ systems. Specific program objectives include:
Evaluation of NLT-101 in aged preclinical models across multiple intrinsic capacity domains
Advancement of NLT-101 through translational pharmacology and IND-enabling studies
Development of biomarker-driven strategies to quantify functional preservation and therapeutic response
This program integrates functional performance measures and systems-level biomarker analysis to build a robust translational dataset supporting potential clinical development in healthspan-focused indications, while Nula’s primary clinical development program in metabolic dysfunction advances along a well-established regulatory path.
The program culminates in a 12-month, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study in healthy older adults, with Intrinsic Capacity as the primary endpoint. By assessing intrinsic capacity alongside emerging surrogate biomarkers, the initiative aims to help define measurable, regulatory-relevant endpoints for therapeutics targeting aging biology and functional resilience, potentially accelerating and streamlining future development programs.
(Press release, Nula Therapeutics, APR 16, 2026, View Source [SID1234664463])