Researchers at Trinity, in collaboration with Breye Therapeutics, have shown that a simple oral pill could protect against the leading cause of blindness in working age adults. The oral medication, danegaptide, has been shown to protect against Vision-threatening damage in the most common form of diabetes-related eye disease: non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR).
The research demonstrated that danegaptide is safe and shows early signs of positive biological activity in patients with NPDR. The immediate priority for the researchers is to move on to randomised phase II clinical trials to confirm long-term efficacy and establish optimal dosing.
This represents a “major paradigm shift in retinal care”. Instead of waiting until the sight loss is advanced and having to treat it with frequent and invasive eye injections, clinicians may one day be able to intervene preventatively with a simple daily pill. Chair of Neurovascular Genetics at Trinity, and senior author on the paper Matthew Campbell said “Managing diabetic eye disease before irreversible damage occurs has long been constrained by the burden of invasive injections.” He adds that the “findings demonstrate that a simple oral pill can effectively target and repair the inner blood–retina barrier. This potentially offers a non-invasive, preventive path forward that could protect vision in both eyes simultaneously, long before severe sight loss takes hold.”
Diabetic retinopathy affects one-third of people living with diabetes globally, and this form of the disease makes up the majority of cases. In Ireland, registry data is showing a worrying rise in individuals registering as blind due to the condition.
