Lenz raises $83.5 million in financing to advance trials for presbyopia eye drops
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Key takeaways:
- Lenz Therapeutics raised $83.5 million in Series B financing from new and existing investors.
- The funding will be used to advance LNZ100 and LNZ101 for presbyopia treatment through phase 3 trials.
Lenz Therapeutics has raised $83.5 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing, according to a press release.
“With our recent $83.5 million Series B financing, Lenz is well capitalized to complete our ongoing phase 3 studies for presbyopia as well as potential approval and commercial launch of our aceclidine-based presbyopia eye drop,” Eef Schimmelpennink, president and CEO of Lenz, told Healio/OSN.
Image: Adobe Stock
The financing was led by new investor Sectoral Asset Management, with other new investors including Alpha Wave Ventures and Point 72. Existing investors included RA Capital Management, Versant Ventures, RTW Investments and others.
The primary endpoint of the ongoing phase 3 CLARITY program investigating LNZ100 (aceclidine) and LNZ101 (aceclidine and brimonidine) eye drops is the percentage of patients who gain three lines of improvement in near visual acuity without losing one line of distance vision, according to the release.
“LNZ100 and LNZ101 are unlike any other eye drops in development for presbyopia due to the unique [mechanism of action] and pupil size,” Schimmelpennink said.
Both drops previously demonstrated positive topline results in the phase 2 INSIGHT clinical trial in maintaining a statistically significant three line or greater improvement compared with vehicle for all timepoints up to 10 hours, while maintaining an average pupil size of 1.5 mm to 2 mm, which is a biomarker of efficacy, the release said.
“Aceclidine is the only pupil selective miotic in which iris stimulation is decoupled from ciliary muscle stimulation, enabling LNZ100 and LNZ101 to achieve and sustain a 1.5- to 2-mm pupil for 10 hours,” Schimmelpennink said. “For eye care professionals, this represents an additional option for patients that holds the potential for an all-day eye drop treatment for the vast majority of presbyopes.”
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