Lentechs Announces First Patients Enrolled in Two Milestone Clinical Trials

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lentechs, a clinical-stage ophthalmic medical device company developing a new generation of soft, suspended contact lens, designed to transform the treatment paradigm for presbyopia, today announced progress in its clinical program. The first patients have been enrolled in the Company's milestone clinical trials LEN101 and LEN102 and fit with its investigational contact lens APIOC (pronunciation: AP•EE•OCK).

Presbyopia is a natural part of aging characterized by a gradual loss of the eyes' ability to focus on objects up close.¹ This clinical progress furthers the Company's mission of reimagining vision for the 120 million people in the United States and 2 billion worldwide who have presbyopia and are faced with correction options that force a visual compromise, leading most to choose glasses over a preference for contact lenses.^2,3 APIOC employs a mechanism of action like no other soft contact lens. APIOC's breakthrough design leverages a unique, anatomically inspired feature that allows for free eye movement behind a rotationally stable lens. With the lens suspended from behind the upper eyelid, APIOC is designed to allow a wearer to adjust their gaze by moving their eyes up and down behind the lens, for exceptional vision correction at all distances. It is the result of a long-term collaboration between Melissa D. Bailey, OD, PhD, and Joseph T. Barr, OD, MS, two of the co-founders of Lentechs.

"Enrolling patients in our two milestone clinical trials for APIOC is a tremendous achievement for the Lentechs team," said President and Chief Executive Officer of Lentechs, Mr. Robin G. Sears. "It marks a culmination of research and development efforts as we've worked to engineer and optimize a completely new generation of soft, suspended contact lens, launching first for presbyopia, with additional solutions for single vision correction soon to follow. Simultaneously, we are focused on preparing our team for the commercial launch of APIOC in select US markets in early 2022."

Lentechs board member and former Global President, Vision Care for Bausch and Lomb and former Johnson & Johnson Vision executive, Peter Valenti added, "APIOC is a potential game-changer for optometrists and patients. The presbyopia segment offers an enormous opportunity to improve patient satisfaction and drive business growth for Eyecare Professionals (ECPs)."

While not a requirement for regulatory approval, the two clinical trials will deliver visual acuity and comfort data to ECPs in an effort to instill confidence in prescribing a new brand of soft contact lens. LEN101 aims to show how APIOC's unique mechanism of action will help ECPs bridge the gap between the 70-percent of people with presbyopia that wish to wear contact lenses and the 14-percent who actually do.^3,4 The clinical trials are scheduled to be completed by the end of June.

About Lentechs
Lentechs, LLC is a privately held, clinical-stage ophthalmic medical device company, focused on developing a new generation of soft, suspended contact lens. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Lentechs is backed by a network of investors who are truly committed to revolutionary innovation in contact lenses. Learn more about Lentechs by visiting: https://www.lentechs.com/

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain information that might be considered forward-looking statements. These statements may include those about lens design, expected performance, regulatory approval, launch timing, and ECP and consumer demand. Such forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future product or company performance.

¹ Mayo Clinic. Accessed May 2021. Presbyopia. Retrieved from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/presbyopia/symptoms-causes/syc-20363328..
² Review of Optometric Business. 2013. Presbyopia Expected to Impact Billions Worldwide. Retrieved from: https://www.reviewob.com/presbyopia-expected-to-impact-billions-worldwide-3/
³ Rueff & Bailey, Presbyopic and Non-Presbyopic Contact Lens Opinions and Vision Correction Preferences, Contact Lens & Anterior Eye, Volume 40, Issue 5, P323-328, October 01, 2017.
⁴ Data on file, Lentechs. APIOC Concept, Quantitative Market Research Study, June 2020.

SOURCE Lentechs