An oral treatment for diabetic retinopathy

Breye Therapeutics has reported promising results from a clinical trial involving 24 patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy who received the orally-administered treatment, danegaptide.

The trial, which was completed across 11 clinical sites in the UK, Germany and the US, confirmed a favourable safety profile of the medication and “early signs of clinical activity.”

A statement from Breye Therapeutics explained that analysis of retinal imaging demonstrated reductions in retinal vascular leakage and improvements in anatomical parameters.

A follow up trial is planned to evaluate danegaptide among patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy using the regulatory benchmark of the Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scale.

Breye Therapeutics chief executive officer, Ulrik Mouritze, highlighted that the results support the drug’s potential as an oral, non-invasive treatment for patients in the earlier stages of diabetic retinopathy.

“Our focus is on validating these findings using regulatory-accepted clinical outcomes to progress our mission of developing safe and effective treatment options for these patients to preserve their vision before the onset of irreversible damage,” he said.

“Additionally, we believe this treatment solution may also support the maintenance of treatment response after induction therapy with intravitreally administered products,” Mouritze added.