A Third Rock-backed play­er charts a new course against tran­scrip­tion fac­tors. Do 'switch sites' hold the mag­ic sauce?

Long known for their role in guid­ing gene ex­pres­sion but con­sid­ered “un­drug­gable,” DNA bind­ing tran­scrip­tion fac­tors have long been a Holy Grail for drug de­vel­op­ers. Now, a new start­up from Third Rock Ven­tures thinks it could have the juice to get af­ter tran­scrip­tion fac­tors once and for all — and it all start­ed with a “flare” of in­spi­ra­tion from an ar­ti­cle out of an Ox­ford lab.

Third Rock biotech Flare Ther­a­peu­tics launched Thurs­day with an $82 mil­lion Se­ries A and a three-pro­gram pipeline of small mol­e­cules aimed at tran­scrip­tion fac­tor “switch sites” — a nov­el tar­get the firm thinks could help crack the code on those pro­teins.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER