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SS-31, Elamipretide
The story
SS-31 was designed in the early 2000s by Hazel Szeto at Weill Cornell in New York and Peter Schiller at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, as part of the Szeto-Schiller peptide family. They found it concentrated in the inner mitochondrial membrane and protected cells from oxidative death and reperfusion injury. Szeto's group then showed its target is cardiolipin. Stealth BioTherapeutics developed it as elamipretide, and in 2025 it received US accelerated approval as FORZINITY for muscle strength in Barth syndrome.
Sources
Read the original sources
- Cell-permeable peptide antioxidants targeted to inner mitochondrial membrane inhibit mitochondrial swelling, oxidative cell death, and reperfusion injury (Abstract · checked 2026-10-13)
- Mitochondria-targeted peptide antioxidants: novel neuroprotective agents (Abstract · checked 2026-10-13)
- First-in-class cardiolipin-protective compound as a therapeutic agent to restore mitochondrial bioenergetics. (Szeto · 2014 · Abstract; full methods not assumed · checked 2026-10-13)
- FORZINITY (elamipretide) prescribing information, FDA 2025 (Summary · checked 2026-10-13)