The Oxford-based tech bio firm intends to use the funds raised to focus on delaying the disease progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Oxford-based techbio company Scripta Therapeutics has raised $12 million (£9.1 million) seed funding to find disease-modifying drugs that alter transcription factor activity. 

The round was led jointly by Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) and Apollo Health Ventures, with further investment from AlbionVC, YZR Capital, and Parkwalk Advisors, and support from Oxford University Innovation.

By focusing on altering the activity of transcription factors, Scripta is searching for drugs with the potential not just to delay disease progression, but to halt or even reverse it. Combining pharma, biotech and disease biology expertise with the computational power to push the boundaries of biology, Scripta aims to deliver disease-modifying therapeutics that transform outcomes for patients.

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.

Flipping the script

“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,” said chief executive Peter Hamley. 

Ray Barlow, chief executive of Dublin-based biopharma company SynOx Therapeutics, has also been brought on to strengthen Scripta’s board as a non-executive director.

“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,” said Marianne Mertens, partner at Apollo Health Ventures.  

“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 the root causes of age-related diseases and enable disease-modifying treatments,” she continued.