Scripta Therapeutics raises $12m to find disease-modifying drugs that alter transcription factor activity
Posted
Techbio startup Scripta Therapeutics emerges from stealth by announcing a $12 million seed round to upend conventional approaches to drug discovery. By creating powerful disease maps and modulating them using a combination of Artificial Intelligence, imaging, and patient models, Scripta is building a new biology-first paradigm – one capable of decoding and undoing the programs that drive disease.
The round is led jointly by Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) and Apollo Health Ventures, with further investment from AlbionVC, YZR Capital GmbH, and Parkwalk Advisors, and support from Oxford University Innovation.
Modulating transcription factor activity to reprogram biology
Scripta aims to discover and develop disease modifying therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders. The company is following a unique strategy, based on the concept that transcription factors, the master controllers of gene expression, are core drivers of disease and act as detailed and dynamic maps of disease. Therapeutics that modulate these maps to restore the healthy cell state can be efficiently identified by a data-rich, lab-in-the-loop combination of experimental biology and cutting-edge AI and informatics.
Biology decoded, disease undone
While the platform can be applied to any disease, the team is focusing first on Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions in collaboration with scientific co-founder Noel Buckley, Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Oxford.
Peter Hamley, founder and CEO of Scripta, said, “We’re flipping the script on conventional target-based drug discovery to find therapies that genuinely move the needle for patients. By focusing on understanding and manipulating the master controllers of biology, we’re searching for drugs with the potential not just to delay disease progression but to stop it in its tracks”.
We’re delighted to back Scripta Therapeutics in its $12 m seed round. The unmet need in neurodegeneration is vast and Scripta’s biology-first approach of modulating transcription-factors to unlock disease-modifying biology stands out.
Leigh Brody, Investment Manager, AlbionVC
We look for teams that are redefining what’s possible in biology and Scripta’s is exactly that. Peter Hamley and Prof. Noel Buckley bring the kind of scientific depth and execution discipline needed to translate breakthrough science into real medicines. Their platform brings together experimental biology, AI and imaging to build medicines that could genuinely change the course of neurodegenerative disease.
We’re excited to support them alongside our co-investors as they progress towards a new generation of treatments for patients.
Experienced biotech business builder Ray Barlow, currently CEO of SynOx Therapeutics, has also been brought on to strengthen Scripta’s board as a Non-Executive Director. He said, “Scripta brings fresh thinking and a novel biology-led, data-rich approach to a traditionally challenging area of drug discovery. I am looking forward to working with this outstanding team to deliver effective new medicines that are long overdue for so many patients”.
Claire Brown, Partner at OSE and board member of Scripta, said, “We’re proud to be backing Scripta – a brilliant team that exemplifies the next generation of technology-enabled drug discovery and capitalises on the strength of the University of Oxford and the wider Oxford ecosystem”. Marianne Mertens, Partner at Apollo Health Ventures, said, “Manipulating transcription factors in disease has long been seen as an intractable challenge, yet it holds tremendous promise for treating neurodegeneration and other life-limiting conditions. Scripta’s innovative approach could deliver transformational therapies and exemplifies one of Apollo’s key investment strategies: reprogramming diseased cells into healthy ones to tackle root causes of age-related diseases and enable disease-modifying treatments
Other news
David Grimm on BusinessCloud: UK must act decisively to avoid becoming an ‘AI renter’
AlbionVC partner Dave Grimm says UK has world-class IP, talent and ideas – so the time for bold, foundational investment is now
Paul Lehair on Aulium, AlbionVC’s High Conviction Playbook, AI edge, and Europe’s moment
AlbionVC Partner Paul Lehair joins Ailium to share what high conviction looks like in early-stage VC — from backing bootstrapped founders like Gravitee to spotting AI-native teams shaping the next wave of software innovation.
