Danish Biotech Breye Snags $73M to Replace Eye Injections

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-02

Denmark's Breye Therapeutics just pulled off something impressive: an oversubscribed €67.5 million Series A round—that's about $73 million. For a company developing oral treatments for retinal diseases, that's a serious vote of confidence. And it's not just about the money. It's about what this funding could mean for millions of people facing vision loss. ### Who's Betting Big on Breye? The round was co-led by Mission BioCapital (a new investor) and Novo Holdings (an existing backer). Sound Bioventures also chipped in, alongside a handful of new names like the Ljungström family office, Innovestor Life Science, EIFO, Catalyze Capital, Modi Ventures, and Pappas Capital. With this cash, Robert Blazej from Mission BioCapital and Lukas Ljungström from the family office are joining the board. Ulrik Mouritzen, Breye's CEO, put it simply: "This financing reflects the strong confidence in Breye's vision, strategy, and pipeline. It enables us to advance danegaptide to the next stage of clinical development—bringing a much-needed patient-friendly treatment option closer to those living with this debilitating eye disease." ### The Problem With Today's Treatments If you've ever had an injection directly into your eye, you know it's not fun. That's the current standard for diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults. It affects roughly 130 million people worldwide. The market for these treatments is approaching $10 billion and could nearly double in the next decade. But here's the catch: those intravitreal (IVT) injections are invasive, poorly tolerated, and many patients stop getting them. Plus, for early or moderate stages of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), options are extremely limited. ### Breye's Oral Solution: Danegaptide Breye is developing danegaptide, a first-in-class oral small molecule. It works by stabilizing retinal vasculature, protecting against capillary breakdown and leakage caused by high blood sugar. In a Phase 1b trial last year, it was well tolerated across all doses and showed early signs of activity—including retinal imaging data suggesting reduced vascular leakage. > "Breye is emerging as a leader in the development of innovative retinal disease therapies," said Robert Blazej, Partner at Mission BioCapital. "We believe Breye is uniquely positioned to address this unmet need." ### What's Next? The company, founded in 2019, emerged from stealth in 2022 with a €4 million seed round. Now, with this new funding, they're pushing danegaptide into the next phase of clinical trials. They're also exploring oral therapies for other eye diseases like intermediate age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. If successful, an oral pill could replace those painful eye injections—making treatment more accessible and tolerable for millions. That's a future worth watching.