EMBL spin-off Epitome Therapeutics secures 4 million euros for its epigenome-editing platform
Precise Control of Gene Expression
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Epitome Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup developing a novel approach to precise epigenome editing for the targeted regulation of gene expression, announces its official launch with total funding of 4 million euros. This funding consists of an oversubscribed pre-seed financing round of 2 million euros, as well as an additional 2 million euros in grants. The pre-seed round was co-led by XISTA Science Ventures and Caesar Ventures; Navec Venture Holding GmbH also participated. Additional funds were secured through competitive grant programs, including support from Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).
The funds from this financing will be used to advance Epitome Therapeutics’ development programs toward the nomination of a first drug candidate, expand the technological scope of the CADENCE platform, and grow the company’s scientific and operational teams.
“We founded Epitome Therapeutics with the support of a strong group of investors and partners,” said Dr. Guido Gualdoni, co-founder and CEO of Epitome Therapeutics. “The successful completion of an oversubscribed financing round is a strong testament to the quality of our team and the potential of the CADENCE platform. The new funds will enable us to further expand the company based on CADENCE technology and translate our scientific findings into initial development programs. Our immediate focus is now on expanding the platform, strengthening our team, and advancing the selection of our first drug candidate.”
Epitome Therapeutics was founded in 2025 by Dr. Guido Gualdoni and Dr. Jamie Hackett as a spin-off from EMBL, one of Europe’s leading life sciences research institutes. The company is developing a novel therapeutic approach based on the precise control of gene expression. While recent advances have demonstrated the potential of gene silencing, many diseases require the restoration, enhancement, or fine-tuned regulation of gene activity. This creates a need for therapeutic approaches that enable more precise control of gene expression.
“Genes don’t just need to be turned on or off—what matters is that they are expressed at exactly the right level,” said Dr. Jamie Hackett, co-founder and CSO of Epitome Therapeutics. “Many diseases arise when this balance is disrupted. The CADENCE platform enables precise control of gene expression, allowing us to restore the activity of specific genes to a therapeutically relevant level. We are convinced that this precision medicine approach represents a fundamentally new therapeutic modality for the treatment of genetic and complex diseases.”
Epitome Therapeutics’ proprietary epigenome-editing platform enables precise, long-lasting, and finely tunable activation of gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Thanks to its modular architecture, which is based on a repertoire of optimized epigenetic effectors, the platform is designed to tailor gene activation to specific biological contexts. The goal is to achieve greater precision, flexibility, and safety than previous approaches. CADENCE addresses key limitations of existing gene activation technologies and is being developed for diseases caused by dysregulated gene activity, including rare diseases and metabolic disorders.
Epitome Therapeutics’ technology is based on research conducted at EMBL Rome, including findings published in a groundbreaking 2024 paper in *Nature Genetics*, and is supported by intellectual property exclusively licensed from EMBL.
Alexander Schwartz, Partner at XISTA Science Ventures, commented: “We were very impressed by Epitome Therapeutics’ innovative approach to epigenome editing, particularly its focus on targeted upregulation. We were equally impressed by how the team plans to translate these scientific insights into therapeutically relevant development programs. We are delighted to be among the first to support the company as it takes its initial steps in development, while the field as a whole continues to gain momentum.”
“With our investment in Epitome Therapeutics, we are supporting an exceptional team that has fundamentally redefined gene regulation. We were impressed by the rare combination of scientific depth and entrepreneurial experience embodied by Guido and Jamie. We are pleased to support the team as an investor in this first major funding round,” added Gregor Unger, Managing Partner at Caesar Ventures.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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