Scripta: Reprogramming Alzheimer’s through transcription factors

Rather than pursuing a single pathogenic protein, U.K. biotech Scripta is trying to modulate the transcription factor networks that shape the broader disease state in Alzheimer’s, using transcriptomic signatures and cell-based screening to identify small molecules that can push those networks back toward a healthier profile.

The company’s bet is that in a multifactorial disease, the best place to intervene may be at the level of gene regulation. “Those disease signatures are created by the activity of transcription factors, something that’s been known for a long time but not really exploited in drug discovery,” Scripta Therapeutics Ltd. CEO Peter Hamley told BioCentury...