Company: LENZ
Filing Date: 2025-03-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001815776-25-000019
Chunk: 98

Company: LENZ Therapeutics, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 98
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 near vision.

Market Opportunity

Presbyopia impacts an estimated 1.8 billion people globally and 128 million people in the United States, which makes it the most prevalent ophthalmology indication, outside latent refractive errors. On an addressable population basis, presbyopia is almost four times greater than dry eye disease and three times greater than childhood myopia, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma combined. Furthermore, the market opportunity for presbyopia is growing due to the 

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aging of the general population. As people continue working and stay active longer, they will require effective treatment for presbyopia for near vision acuity in their daily lives.

Presbyopia is a consumer-driven and cash pay market that requires intense focus on the needs and desires of presbyopes. We believe that the likely demand for a pharmaceutical option is driven by multiple factors, most notably presbyopes seeking to have a functional visual benefit in their day-to-day life, as well as those that want the cosmetic benefit of not requiring reading glasses. From a functional and cosmetic perspective, we see many similarities to the market dynamics between contact lenses and glasses. The contact lens market has grown to approximately $17 billion globally and approximately $6 billion in the United States in 2022. Contact lens users tend to have strong brand loyalty and the market has shown they are willing to spend out of pocket as an alternative to glasses for a variety of factors, including convenience, a more natural field of vision, enabling an active lifestyle and the ability to look younger. Similarly, over 10 million individuals have elected to complete laser vision correction, such as LASIK, which demonstrates a willingness to undergo elective surgical procedures to improve vision. Additionally, global sales of Botox injections for non-therapeutic applications, such as for cosmetic purposes, were $2.6 billion in 2022, demonstrating a high willingness to pay out of pocket for differentiated pharmaceutical brands. Currently, as people begin to develop presbyopia, they often have to stop using contact lenses, which seldom allow for simultaneous effective distance and near vision correction. A prescription eye drop that can be used in combination with distance correcting lenses can allow patients to stay in their contact lenses longer.

We expect that there will be a wide range of presbyopes that will be interested in using the eye drops at least four times a week as well as a smaller group that will use them on a more episodic basis. In early 2023, we commissioned a third