Lenz Therapeutics has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its New Drug Application (NDA) for LNZ100, an investigational ophthalmic solution for the treatment of presbyopia. This acceptance brings the company closer to potentially providing a novel, once-daily eye drop to address blurry near vision, which affects an estimated 128 million individuals in the United States.
The NDA submission is backed by positive results from the Phase 3 CLARITY study, which demonstrated that participants experienced a clinically meaningful improvement in near vision without compromising distance visual acuity. The FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of August 8, 2025.
Clinical Efficacy and Safety
The CLARITY program included two key trials:
- CLARITY 1 (NCT05656027): Assessed the efficacy of LNZ100.
- CLARITY 2 (NCT05753189): Evaluated the safety profile.
In CLARITY 1, 64% of participants achieved a three-line or greater improvement in near vision, while 83% achieved at least a two-line improvement. CLARITY 2 showed that 71% and 91% of participants had three-line and two-line or greater improvements, respectively. Importantly, the eye drop was well-tolerated, with no serious treatment-related adverse events observed across over 30,000 treatment days.
Mechanism of Action
LNZ100 contains 1.75% aceclidine, a small-molecule muscarinic acetylcholine receptor agonist. Aceclidine induces miosis, creating a pinhole effect that enhances near vision while minimizing myopic shift. Aceclidine has been marketed in Europe for over 50 years, but it has never been clinically used in the United States and is not currently approved for presbyopia treatment in any country.
Market and Commercial Strategy
Lenz Therapeutics is gearing up for a potential launch of LNZ100 as early as the second half of 2025, pending FDA approval. The company aims to establish LNZ100 as the standard of care eye drop for presbyopia, offering a pupil-selective and long-lasting therapeutic option.
Eef Schimmelpennink, president and CEO of LENZ Therapeutics, stated, "With the acceptance of our New Drug Application for LNZ100, we are pleased to be one step closer towards potential approval and look forward to continuing to collaborate with the FDA to deliver the first once-daily, well-tolerated and rapid acting eye drop for the treatment of presbyopia to the 128 million individuals living with blurry near vision in the United States."
