Biotech startup Scripta Therapeutics has emerged from stealth with a €10.3 million ($12 million USD) seed round to transform how new medicines are discovered.
The funding was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE) and Apollo Health Ventures, with participation from AlbionVC, YZR Capital, Parkwalk Advisors, and support from Oxford University Innovation.
Founded by Peter Hamley, former global head of external innovation at Sanofi, Scripta Therapeutics is pioneering a new, biology-led approach to drug discovery—one that focuses on transcription factors, the “master controllers” of gene expression and cell behavior.
“We’re flipping the script on conventional target-based discovery,” said Hamley, CEO and founder of Scripta. “By understanding and manipulating the master regulators of biology, we’re searching for therapies that don’t just delay disease progression—but stop it entirely.”
A new frontier in disease-modifying therapeutics
Scripta Therapeutics combines advanced computational models with experimental biology in a “lab-in-the-loop” workflow that maps how transcription factors drive disease. By reprogramming these regulators, the company aims to restore normal cell function and develop disease-modifying drugs for conditions previously considered untreatable.
The company’s initial focus is on neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, in collaboration with scientific co-founder Professor Noel Buckley, a neurobiology expert at the University of Oxford.
“Manipulating transcription factors has long been viewed as an impossible challenge,” said Marianne Mertens, Partner at Apollo Health Ventures. “Scripta’s approach opens the door to reprogramming diseased cells into healthy ones—a breakthrough with enormous potential for treating neurodegeneration and other age-related disorders.”
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Strengthening Oxford’s biotech ecosystem
Scripta’s launch underscores the UK’s growing prominence in AI- and data-driven drug discovery. In 2025, European biotech firms such as TRIMTECH Therapeutics (neurodegeneration), Graph Therapeutics (Austria), and Aerska (Ireland) collectively raised over €50 million, highlighting sustained investor appetite for AI-enabled biology platforms.
“Scripta exemplifies the next generation of technology-enabled drug discovery,” said Claire Brown, Partner at OSE and board member of Scripta. “Their combination of deep biology and advanced informatics reflects the unique strength of the Oxford ecosystem.”
Scripta has also appointed Ray Barlow, CEO of SynOx Therapeutics, as Non-Executive Director, bringing extensive experience in biotech strategy and commercialization.
“Scripta brings a data-rich, biology-first perspective to one of the hardest areas of drug discovery,” Barlow noted. “This is the kind of innovation the industry has been waiting for.”
About Scripta Therapeutics
Scripta Therapeutics is an Oxford-based techbio company developing disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative and age-related disorders. Using a biology-first approach centered on transcription factors—the master controllers of gene expression—Scripta integrates AI-driven informatics with experimental biology to identify therapeutics that reprogram diseased cells and restore healthy function.
