Lenz Therapeutics debuted today with a $47 million Series A financing to move the company’s lead asset, an eyedrop formulation of aceclidine, toward an NDA submission for the treatment of presbyopia. The financing was made from Versant Ventures and RA Capital Management. 

Lenz Therapeutics (formerly Presbyopia Therapies) is developing a proprietary eye drop formulation of aceclidine. In a 58-patient phase 2 trial, the molecule met the primary endpoints, showing significant rapid and long-lasting improvements in near vision. Within 30 minutes, 53% of patients showed 3 lines or more of reading improvement and 81% showed 2 lines or more. Effects were significant up to 7 hours, the last measured time point. Importantly, there was no loss in distance vision under normal and low luminance conditions and the product was well tolerated with no serious adverse events.

“I am very excited to be leading Lenz Therapeutics,” Eef Schimmelpennink, CEO of Lenz Therapeutics, said in a company news release. “Fueled by its phase 2 success, I believe the company has a potential best-in-class asset that uniquely positions it to capitalize on the emerging presbyopia therapeutics market. I see a great opportunity for LENZ Therapeutics to be a leader in what many see as the largest untapped ophthalmology market. The team and I look forward to continuing the work of the founders Gerald Horn, MD; Lee Nordan, MD; and Jim McCollum, and to provide patients with an on-demand, rapid-acting and long-lasting pharmaceutical option.”

Previously, Mr. Schimmelpennink was CEO of Pfenex Inc., which was acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. last year for $516 million. Before Pfenex, Mr. Schimmelpennink was CEO of Alvotech, where he led the company through a critical growth phase, and aligned R&D, manufacturing and commercial capabilities across a portfolio of monoclonal antibodies. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Pfizer and Hospira within their global specialty injectables businesses.

Aceclidine is a small molecule acetylcholinesterase receptor agonist that causes pupil contraction, or miosis, creating a pinhole effect that improves near vision. Studies have shown that aceclidine’s mechanism of action is differentiated from competing therapeutic options due to its ability to create a pinhole pupil effect while avoiding myopic shift. It is crucial to minimize myopic shift as it can significantly impair distance vision for a majority of presbyopes. Aceclidine’s unique MOA, in which miosis is decoupled from myopic shift, is expected to allow it to target the broadest patient population.

In the phase 2 trial, the near vision improvement was due to aceclidine’s ability to maintain a pinhole pupil sweet spot of 1.5 mm to 2 mm for 7 hours. There was no loss and a slight trend toward net gain in best corrected distance vision. In addition, aceclidine was well tolerated with most common side effect being mild discomfort on instillation and no serious adverse events.

“We are very excited to lead this investment in Lenz Therapeutics, which has a highly differentiated late clinical-stage asset that can offer a meaningful option for patients with presbyopia,” said Clare Ozawa, PhD, managing director at Versant and a Lenz Therapeutics board member.