LENZ Therapeutics, Inc.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the lens therapeutics, first quarter, 2025 financial results conference call at this time. All participants are in a listen only mode. Following prepared remarks from management, we will conduct a question and answer session and instructions will follow at that time as a reminder. This call is being recorded at this time. I would like to turn the call over to Dan Chevillard. Chief financial officer, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon and thank you for joining us

today. My name is Dan Chevillard, chief financial officer of lens therapeutics. We are joined today by a Shimmel panic of president and chief executive officer and Sean Olson, our chief commercial officer as well as Dr. Mark. O'dritch chief medical officer will join us for the question and answer session. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call will contain forward looking statements regarding lenses, future expectations, plans, prospects, corporate strategy, regulatory and commercial plans and expectations. Runway projections and performance. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward looking statements as a result of various important factors and risks, including those discussed in our filings with the security and exchange commission, which can also be found on our website. In addition, any forward looking statements represent only our views as of the day of this webcast and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligations to update such statements. The company encourages you to consult the risk factors contained in our SEC filings for additional detail, including our first quarter 2025 form 10 Q, which was filed today. With that, I'll now turn the call over to a.

Thank you, Dan. And good afternoon everyone. The first quarter of 2025 has been a focused and highly productive. But if a different target action date or RMC 100 now just three months away, we are entering into what we believe will be a fighting chapter in our company's growth. I think January, I said that 2025 had the potential to be a transformational year. And with each passing milestone that's proving to be the case. In prior quarters, we emphasize our commitment to discipline execution as we are advancing and you want to launch and I believe in its potential as a category defining treatment for presbyopia. That focus hasn't waited. We've been doing all of this while maintaining a strong financial foundation to support our product. Foundation in recent weeks has been further strengthened through a block trade as a result of an imbalance from a high quality investor eager to initiate a meaningful starting position in our stock. Their interest was on status triggered by our commercial day, which you hosted in April at the nest egg market site. Our objective was to provide a clear and comprehensive look at our commercial readiness and share our excitement for the upcoming potential launch. RMC 100. It was an outstanding event with many investors and self analyst joining in person hundreds more joining life online and many others who have watched the replay since. The feedback has been extremely positive. We believe we accomplished what we set out to do demonstrate the strength of our commercial strategy and instill confidence in our ability to execute. There are four key takeaways from that event. I'd like to briefly touch on here. First, the perspective shared by I care professionals. We heard from a number of respected K wells who all expressed genuine enthusiasm about the clinical potential RMC 100 particularly on how it could enhance patient care. As a reminder, while they are approximately on the 28 million Americans with presbyopia few and a half of them are believed to see an eye care doctor. That presents a substantial opportunity and ECPs are very interested in how our direct consumer marketing will help drive awareness and engagement among this large population. Second, we outlined the progress we have made in preparing for launch. As you know, our commercial strategy is structured around three pillars and even doctors to recommend us empowering patients to request his name and ensuring a seamless path to access. On the first pillar, our unbranded I am selective campaign continues to generate strong engagement. One in 50 K wells are part of the effort helping their peers take a fresh look at emerging options in presbyopia treatment. The campaign has reached over 12,000 ECPs and has delivered more than 2 million impressions online. Furthermore, our all of times with MSL team has been actively engaging with ECPs with thousands of meaningful interactions today. They are playing a key role in educating the community about the cyclist mechanism of action and the importance of people activity. And in parallel, our sales force build out is progressing as planned and Sean will speak to that shortly. The second pillar, building brand awareness among patients post approval and launch is driven by clear and target strategy. I share that the commercial day our goal is to establish a true category one. With the five our consumer targets, we know how and where to reach them and we are building a campaign that will incorporate the right mix of influencer and ambassador engagement to drive visibility and recognition. And third, we've laid the foundation for strong access strategy that includes a extensive sampling approach and broad distribution to both traditional retail pharmacies and existing e pharmacy channels.

Ensure convenience and accessibility from the start. We also provide an update on

our interactions with the FDA. Given the current regulatory environment, we felt it was important to reiterate that we are continuing to see a high level of engagement from the agency. An excellent continuity among the review team, which has seen no changes in personnel. In fact, our late cycle review meeting has been moved forward to later this month. We remain on track for August 8th to do for date. Finally, I want to briefly speak to the topic of tariffs, which for obvious reasons continues to come up in conversations. As we shared at the commercial day, we're in a strong and well defined position. On November 7th of last year, US customs and border protection issued a definitive ruling establishing the United States as the country of origin for LNG 100. Then on April 2nd, we received a second definitive ruling confirming that LNG 100 will be duty free. Combined with the fact that our intellectual property is domiciled in the US, we are proud to say that LNG 100 is designated made in the USA. Across the organization from medical and regulatory to manufacturing operations, quality, finance, HR and commercial, every team is operating with urgency and alignment as we approach our target action date in August. It is a truly cross functional effort and I'm incredibly proud of what we have accomplished so far. With that, I'll send a call over to Sean, our Chief Commercial Officer, who will share more on the progress we are making in our pre-commercial planning. Sean. Thank

you,

Ace. Good

afternoon, everyone. As we've discussed on previous calls, the commercial potential for an effective presbyopia treatment represents one of the largest eye care market opportunities in the United States. Presbyopia impacts an estimated 128 million people in the US, population nearly four times larger than those impacted by dry eye and nearly six times larger than those impacted by Demodex blepharitis. For further context, presbyopia impacts more than the combined US population suffering from dry eye, Demodex blepharitis, childhood myopia, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. The first eye drop treatment for presbyopia was approved in 2021 and confirmed that there's a strong consumer desire for an eye drop treatment as evidenced by initial paid new scripts of up to 6,000 per week. Long term usage beyond the trial period of this product did not materialize as pilot car being even at the high concentration of one and a quarter percent cannot deliver the consumer required performance. Extensive independent consumer market research suggests this category is wide open for an eye drop solution that can deliver what consumers desire. A once a day eye drop that provides seamless near vision for the full work day for the majority of presbyopes. Unlocking this market requires an ideal presbyopia eye drop and we're excited for the prospect of a cyclotene based LNZ100. We believe the commercial potential of LNZ100 was validated in our phase three clarity study with 90% of participants noticing an improvement in your vision and 75% of participants indicating they would continue to use LNZ100 after the study, of which 81% plan to use the product 4 to 7 days per week. Together with our broad inclusion criteria, we believe this positions LNZ100 well for the estimated 3 billion plus market creating a potential category one. We continue to advance our commercial readiness as we progress towards August 8th, the day and I'd like to take just a moment to provide an update on the 3 pillars of our commercial strategy. The 1st pullover commercial strategy is doctors to recommend us. As they've mentioned, our all optometrists MSL team is already engaging with ECE on medical education and fielding questions on the phase 3 data. In addition, our unbranded campaign continues to drive awareness. Of an ideal presbyopia solution with over 2M digital impressions. Following potential NDA approval. Our sales force will immediately begin branded calls on approximately 15,000. And please report that we have made substantial progress on the sales force over the past quarter. As a reminder, we have already successfully hire a full sales leadership team, including both of our regional directors in 2024.

In

Q1, we expand team further with additional 10 district managers. Collectively, this core leadership group group brings nearly 150 years of experience. And more than 300 years of total sales experience. In March, we launched job postings for all 88 sales territories nationwide. The interest to join lens sales force has been tremendous. With over 7500 applications for the positions. The quality applicants have been very high and we're excited to share that we've begun extending offers to our field based sales representatives. As of today, we've extended and received accepted offers for over 40% of our field sales team. In addition, 97% of these new team members have prior eye care or farm experience. And on average, have over 10 years of sales experience. This marks a major milestone or commercialization readiness and great progress towards our target. Have a full field team in place by July 1st.

We're

excited to progress our 1st pillar doctors recommend us. And as a reminder, our primary market research surveyed 426, I care professionals. And it yielded an impressive 82%. And 83% of already being likely to provide. Prescribed and sample 100 if approved respectively based on that phase 3 data. Our 2nd pillar of our commercial strategy is consumers to request us by name. We've taken a consumer 1st approach leaning heavily into lifestyle creative. That reflects the aspirations and daily experiences of our future consumers. The brand we built is empowering desirable and has tested exceptionally well in market research. On April 15th, we hope we hosted our commercial day event in New York City. Where we unveiled the visual identity of the brand, which is modern, clean and sophisticated. We heard from phase 3 users of L. N. T. 100, which highlighted the personal experience with the drop. And the word of mouth potential. We shared our plan for advertising, including influencers and celebrities to drive awareness. We even facilitated a live discussion with Tiffany. Who many of you may know from saved by the bell and white collar. As a presbyopia herself, she shared her frustrations with presbyopia and desire for a better solution. All of this to help frame how we plan to ensure consumers will request us by name. Our brain creative is now fully locked and the majority of our launch promotional materials are ready. And the final product insert language. Once approved, we'll begin activating our care professional facing materials to ensure providers are confident and well equipped. Following that, and once the education is firmly in place. We'll launch into our direct consumer campaign with high impact advertising influencers. And celebrities that we believe will powerfully introduce our brand to the market. For more information from the commercial day, a replay event is available on our investor relations page. Under the IR calendar on our website.

The

third final pillar seamless journey to use will ensure ease of sample and product access for patients. This requires enabling the patient to experience the product and move from trial to usage as quickly as possible. To support this our team has built out consumer sampling capabilities. And commercial access across multiple channels. Including the traditional retail pharmacy. As well as the pharmacy home delivery. In our clinical trials, 95% of patients noticed at least two lines of improvement on our one day one. This immediate response and wow effect. It's incredibly important to product sampling. Our sample vendor has been contracted and after approval samples will be rep delivered to care professionals allowing consumers to try the products. Our team has developed a five day sample pack. Similar to sample sizes for contact lenses. Which following the initial trial can act like a bridge until product is picked up at the pharmacy. Or delivered to the consumers home. We will continue to drive these three pillars as we continue to progress towards our for due for days. Doctors recommend us consumers to request us by name and a seamless journey to use. I'd now like to hand the call over to Dan Chevillard our CFO to highlight our financial results.

Thank you Sean. As has been mentioned the first quarter of 2025 has been a very productive and focused time for the company. With our Purdue Fit Target Action Date for LNZ 100 just over 90 days from now. We ended Q1 2025 in a position of financial strength. And funded for success with approximately 194.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. As you may have seen now having passed the anniversary date of our merger in March 2024. And the corresponding rule 145 shell limitations imposed upon us by the SEC. We became shelf eligible and filed our first S3 shelf registration statement in early April. Subsequent to quarter end we received a meaningful inbound inquiry from a high quality investor on our ATM. Which ultimately resulted in a single block trade of 600,000 shares and net proceeds of 16.3 million dollars. Further strengthening our financial position. As such we have upwardly revised our projected cash at FDUFA from over 170 million. Which we disclosed at our commercial day. And now over 185 million and again reiterated our cash on hand. It's anticipated to fund the company's cash runaway to post-launch positive operating cash flow. Let's now turn to our first quarter results. As I noted on our most recent year end call we expected measured increases at our operating expenses. As we exited 2024 between year end and the time of our Purdue Fit Date. Which was exactly what we saw in the first quarter. Our total Q1 2025 operating expenses increased to 16.9 million dollars. And 11 percent increased over Q4 but well within our operating plan. From a cash perspective we had a total net cash burn of 15 million Q1 2025. Which included approximately three million dollars in one time annual cash costs. And is really reflective of closer to 12 million dollars in operating cash burn. Compared to our Q4 2024 net operating cash burn for approximately 8.1 million dollars. Total SG&A expenses increased to 11.3 million for Q1 2025. Compared to 5.6 million in the same period in 2024. Driven primarily by an increase in commercial headcount. And other pre-launch commercial planning activities. Sequentially SG&A increased quarter over quarter by approximately 19 percent. From 9.4 million in the fourth quarter. Driven primarily by increases in personnel related expenses due to a growth in commercial headcount. Pre-commercial marketing, advertising sales infrastructure. All continuing the pattern of a ramped commercial spend. As we approach our potential August 2025 approval for L&Z 100. As I have highlighted on previous calls and in what will be a consistent objective. We will continue to be measured in our spend on the G&A side of the organization. As we aim to remain a lean and efficient G&A team. Total research and development expenses decreased to 5.8 million in Q1 2025. Compared to 10.5 million for the same period in 2024. Sequentially however R&D expenses were flat quarter over quarter. With a one percent net decrease from the fourth quarter. The majority of our research and development expenses in Q1. Were dedicated to our manufacturing operations efforts. As we build pre-approval commercial product and sample inventory to support our launch. Which will continue through the approval of L&Z 100. At which time much of our manufacturing costs will be prospectively reflected in cost of sales. Finally our net loss per share both basic and diluted was 53 cents per share. In the first quarter of 2025 on a net loss of 14.6 million dollars. Compared to a net loss per share of $3.53 per share. In first quarter of 2024 on a net loss of 16.69. Q1 2025 net loss per share was calculated on approximately 27.5 million. Weighted average common shares outstanding. Compared to Q1 of last year which was the quarter in which we completed our reverse merger. Where a net loss was calculated on approximately 4.7 million. Weighted average common shares outstanding. In total we ended Q1 2025 with approximately 27.5 million shares of common stock outstanding. In summary we feel very good about where we stand financially. As we approach the exciting period ahead. And are pleased with the strength of our balance sheet. And discipline operating plan as we approach our August 8th due date. With that I'll turn the call back

over to Abe for the final remarks. Thanks Ben.

As

you can see we're up to a great

start in 2025. I believe we have tremendous momentum as we are now about three months from our due for target action date. We've never been more confident in our abilities to deliver once daily. Well tolerated and rapidly acting treatments. 228 million individuals living with presbyopia in the United States. I look forward to the exciting months ahead. With that I'd like to open up the call for questions.

At this time if you would like to ask a question simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question press star one again. To repeat to ask a question please press star one. Your first question comes from the line of Stacey Koo from TV Cohen. Please go ahead.

Hi thanks so much for taking our questions. Congrats on the progress. So we have a few. First as we think about the LNZ 100 initial launch we do think it makes a lot of sense to maximize the prescriber and patient relationship with high volume sampling. So just curious do you have the infrastructure in place to get samples to all interested offices as quickly as possible post launch? Can you discuss in more detailed plans kind of right immediately after approval? That's the first question. And then the second is somewhat related. Maybe talk about the type of preparation the team is doing to drive continued use in refills of LNZ 100 after that initial sample. How are you thinking about the level of stickiness of LNZ 100 as it relates to setting expectations for the patient experience? And then last if we could as you approach the approval timing what kind of metrics will you disclose to kind of show patient demand to the street? Thank you so much.

Great thanks Stacey this is Sean.

So for your first questions you asked me about you know where are we in our readiness and ability to sample right out the gate for LNZ 100. I think I got that right. So you know we see sampling as a critical component to our commercial strategy. So we've been out in front of this for a long time. So we actually contracted our sampling distributor back in 2024. And what we're doing in terms of progress you know obviously internally we're writing all of our policies for how the reps deliver the samples. And then also you know we're already coordinating between our sample distributor as well as our CRM system and actually smoke testing those systems to make sure it will be seamless upon those samples being available. So once samples are available you know we'll immediately begin shipping those samples to the reps. They'll receive those samples and be out distributing them to their you know 15,000 ECP targets. And really our plan is have the majority of our samples rep delivered. And we see that as very important. While we see that that opens the door to go and talk to the eye care professionals. And that allows us to have that conversation about LNG 100

with the eye care professional every time we show up. On your second question in terms of preparations

for the field. So we have a lot of work going on already to ensure that we're ready to go. So as you can imagine with over 40% of the sales force already accepting offers. In the background ahead of that we've been building out all the training modules for the sales team. Now once the sales team comes on they have about a three week training cycle where we take them through all those modules. All of them except for the one on the product are all ready to go and through the medical, legal and regulatory review process. So we need to get training them day one. And in terms of preparations to make sure that you know appropriate information is passed along with the eye care professional. And we prepared our Q&A documents as well as you know key messages

to have that conversation with the doctors.

Got it. And then the last comment on what type of metrics you might disclose.

Yeah. So in terms of the metrics. So what we see there is you know this product will be distributed both through the retail pharmacy as well as the e-pharmacy. So I think where most people will be looking for us in terms of metrics early on. I'd really be going to the IQVIA data looking at new script rates as well as that refill rate I think early on the folks that are going to be looking at that. So I think that's the focus of Q4 is going to be samples. Once we move into Q1 I think that focus is really going to be what are those new scripts per week. And then moving into Q2 it's going to be a lot about how are those results coming through. You know given the e-pharmacy obviously that's often not picked up in IQVIA. Now we'll make sure that we can provide some guidance on how that's going so the appropriate analysis can be made.

Thanks for just adding to it. I think I had a question in there on how we would expect to go from samples to ultimately use. That's really that idea is that that sample will be accompanied with a script. At that moment the patient data choose to fill that script as Sean mentioned. For the e-pharmacy this is the you know what we're getting very custom to now. The doctor's office and the text will pop up on your phone and that product will then be delivered to your doorstep or if you want to grab a more traditional route you can pick the actual product up at the retail pharmacy. And then the second part of that question was what we think about stickiness. Hard to say at the moment I think what's different for our product. I'm sure I'm highlighted that that sample use and we know that 95% of patients hit at least two lines of near vision improvements. You expect that people see that improvement from the sample if they are converting to a script. They should be motivated to continue to use that to expect relatively high stickiness once people have converted

into a

script. Wonderful incredibly simple. Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Bhavan Patel with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hey guys this is Bhavan on for Jason Gerberry. First question is related to the five day sample pack. I know that's a key part of the strategy. How will sample distribution be managed and tracked to ensure that they reach high potential prescribers and patients and what's the expected conversion rate from sample to paid prescription? And then on the manufacturing supply chain with the start of manufacturing in February of 2025 can you help us understand what's the current inventory level and what's the target inventory for launch? And then one follow up if I may.

Absolutely. Sean you want to take a sample pack? Yep great. Great to hear from you Bhavan. So the five day sample pack when we think about how that will be managed and tracked. So what will happen is obviously our sample vendor will hold all of the actual bulk samples in their location and then how that we manage every month that product will be shipped to each rep. Right so every month will be a shipment that goes to the rep. They'll hold their products in their storage locker and then that shipment will be dependent on the number of targets and then the expected amount of samples they'd be dropping off so that will be replenished every single month. Once that rep goes to the actual doctor's office to the eye care professional every samples are dropped off we will make sure that they're signed for and fully accounted for to make sure that the clear transfer of ownership to the eye care professional. Then every subsequent visit they'll be checking in on how many samples were written or sorry how many samples were left and how many scripts were written to make sure it maintains the right ratio. In terms of the expected conversion from samples to full-time users I think it's a little bit too early to tell on that but you know when we have more insight we'll share more on that.

Thanks Sean. Just to add to that before I go to the ESVM sorry question. Here's a map on the 15,000 doctors and 88 reps. Dr. D.M. she kept to about a three week call cycle so every three weeks the rep is in that office. On top of that there's a mechanism for doctors if there are other samples in that period to request more. So on the inventory you are right that we started production and have our to be commercial products in Q1. I don't think we're going to be sharing at this moment what our inventory levels are other than you know we're confident that we can supply what we believe will constitute a successful launch.

Great and then just for my follow up maybe if you can elaborate on the mechanics of the e-pharmacy partnership and how that will strengthen the patient journey from prescription to resale including data capture on script conversion and adherence. Thank you.

Yeah absolutely you know what we've really seen over the past few years are the growth of people that prefer their medicines to be delivered to their house just like their Amazon packages. So there's really been this growth in the use of the pharmacies. But what's great about that is you know it really creates like a closed system which is helpful. So you know our partner that we're going to be using for our pharmacy is already active in the eye care professional space. What that means and why that's important means when we go to you know when a doctor goes to enter the scripts into their EMR system. That pharmacy should already be loaded up within that computer so it should be seamless to the pharmacy. Once the pharmacy actually receives the script you know they then take over the ownership and relationship of the patient to get them the product. So the pharmacy shoots a text to the patient's phone right at that point. It's just a link to click in and from that link they put in their credit card information and shipping information and that product starts shipping to their door throughout that process. Also what's great about it is the opportunity for auto refill which means in terms of the product's effectiveness right that product showing up every single month to the door. If they didn't select the auto refill of course the pharmacy will also follow up once the once they're at the end of their first box or second box to follow up and say hey now it's time to order again. So it definitely creates a nice closed environment where you have a strong relationship with the consumer. And then one other question which you asked earlier that I think I missed a spot on you want to make sure the samples go to those high volume prescribers. Because our samples are rep delivered they're targeting those eye care professionals that we've identified as high decile users of the beauty products. So our reps are going to those practices which have already shown a high volume of beauty use early on and therefore that way the samples are going to the right accounts.

Thanks guys.

Your

next question comes from the line of Egon Chomabits with Citi. Please go ahead.

Yeah hi thank you very much. Regarding the marketing plans can you talk about you know when you're going to turn on the influencers and who you know not who you're going to get but kind of when that might happen and on what platforms. And then as far as the commercial model in terms of how you're thinking about the launch obviously beauty got to 6000 scripts per week I believe and then it peaked out. I'm just wondering if you get to that point would that be breakeven for you or would you need to be higher or lower and how quickly do you think you could get to that 6000 script high watermark that beauty got to and then presumably exceed that. Thank you.

Hi Egon this is Sean again thanks for that. I'll take the first question on the marketing plans and when to turn on the influencers. So when we think of you know when we go to market you know immediately upon the August 8th PDUFA date if approved the field will go out and start training ECPs. Our main goal ahead of the influencer campaign is to make sure the ECPs are aware of the product and comfortable with it. So that's what we want to make sure is in place before we turn on the influencer campaign. That's important because what we heard about beauty is if you turn on the influencers too quick the doctors are caught off guard. So I think it's safe to assume Q4 is really a focus on the eye care professionals which is also great about our products is it's a cash paid product. So we're not beholden to when we have coverage by the PDM to turn on DTC. So we can turn on faster than other products that are covered by insurance. So you know when we start turning on influencer campaigns and really promoting DTC so that's going to happen in early 2026 I would expect. I think by that time we'll have enough time to meet with the doctors a few times each make sure they're comfortable with the products before turning on DTC. In terms of channels you know we worked a lot on identifying the early adopters and where they spend their time. What we are finding you know these people over 45 they're spending the majority of time on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. So those are really going to be the avenue that we focus to drive that awareness. We're not finding that they're spending their time on like linear TV so your standard TV channels. So timing early 2026 and channels

Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram. Thanks Sean.

I'll take a question on the modeling. You go on. Thanks for the timing. You'll appreciate that at this date in the company and pre-launch we're not guiding on revenue or volume. What we have shared is that ultimately we can see this being a three billion dollar plus market and as we've shared previously it's based upon eight million ultimate users in the US alone using the product five refills a year. What would be the O.D. pricing? So with that in mind and the fact that we're going to be cash flow positive I think many of the models including yours are giving a sense of when that could happen. Again we're

not cutting to what we have in our plans. Okay got it. Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Laughlin Hanbury Brown with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Hey guys thanks for taking the questions. Sean just on the DTC marketing I mean you've obviously had you know pretty comprehensive unbranded campaign prior to approvals so I was curious how you think about the transition from that

to

branded campaigns and DTC. You know does that if DTC starts in early 2026 does the unbranded campaign continue until then or does it sort of slip over to something else upon approval or availability? And then second you sort of touched on this a little earlier but with the sales force expected to all be hired by July 1 and presumably at least some of them will have been through that three weeks training what can they do in terms of the interactions with target ECPs before an approval if anything because I know there are obviously a lot of restrictions around what they can and can't say and do. They could just elaborate on what they can

do in that say five weeks before the producer. Thanks for the great questions. Yeah happy to cover those

topics. So first thing when does the unbranded stop? So right now that unbranded campaign obviously it's you know a disease state awareness and looking for you know what's the ideal solution look like in Prasveovia. Our plan is to continue to run that up until potential approval and then we would then we would sunset that campaign. So it's really what we can have out there so we can get the excitement going for future solutions in Prasveovia. Once we can transition to speaking about the brand we want to immediately transition to that and make that the focus of all messaging. And so what that transition will look like to DTC marketing. So right now in the unbranded campaign you know a lot of that's focused on where do doctors spend their time as well as the conventions that they're going to in their publications. When we move over to DTC for the drug consumer we'll actually first start with directive practitioner. So we'll actually bring on branded messaging to the doctors. So we'll just transfer everything we're doing on the unbranded side flip it over to branded materials directly at the doctors to really drive their awareness and make sure they're comfortable with the product. And then as we transition to then DTC after that in early 2026 the whole game resets in terms of how we target them because now that we're targeting a consumer you know we're moving off of the platforms where doctors are focused for information back to that you know Pinterest YouTube Facebook Instagram. And to do that you know we've brought on the right type of media by agencies that have those relationships to make sure that we have a hard hitting impactful messaging on those platforms. So that's how we're really going to transition to DTC. Now the sales force as we shared over 40 percent of them have already accepted offers. You know some of them will be on before July 1st. All right you spoke about the three weeks of training. So what can happen after their training before approval. So that's again where the unbranded campaign comes in. The unbranded campaign is fair game for sales force to talk about so they can actually start their call cycles so they can start to meet the care professionals confirm routings confirm emails get to know the doctor. Just the discussion will be limited to the I am selective campaign and then upon approval they can then immediately switch to the branded calls. That's how to think of that transition from

hiring until product available or product approved. Okay thanks that's

useful. Your next

question comes from the line of Gary Nockman with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Hey guys this is Dennis Resnick on for Gary Nockman. Thanks for taking our questions and congrats on all the progress. First could you provide an update on the work you're doing surrounding the additional patent protection for L&D 100. I believe you previously mentioned you had 10 currently under review. Just any additional color on what type of patents they are and your confidence in the overall IP estate. And then can you talk a little bit more about the process that went into selecting the e pharmacy you're working with. What specifically sets this pharmacy apart from others. I just elaborate a little bit more there and I've got one follow up.

Absolutely great questions. If you think about the current patent estate we have seven granted patents that go out to 2039 already. This fall roughly in two buckets. One around the use of the cycling in to treat presbyopia. The very strong patents around that. Another suite of product formulation patents. And there is some patents that go out to 2039. And the patents that are currently under review and I'm talking US only here for the moment. That will extend that to at least 2044. Further patents in those two categories as well as use patents in different use cases that we have seen in our product. That's going to be again a very broad very strong patent estate. Just to complete that on the protection side for the products. Ahead of that says because this is a new company for the US at least five years of data accessibility upon approval is what we expect to get. And on the back end because it is a self-paid product you'll never see your traditional generic switch or a product like this because there's no insurance involved. So there's no insurance pushing the pharmacist to switch it right over to generic. That we feel on the back end and now we're talking 2044 and beyond will provide a very strong and long lasting life cycle for the product.

And this is Sean for the second question on the process to select an e-pharmacy. So we spent a lot of time making sure we chose the right partner for e-pharmacy. One of the most important criteria is we want to make sure we select an e-pharmacy that already existed within the iCare professional EMR ecosystem. Now what we didn't want to select a pharmacy that's not already established in the iCare offices because obviously that takes work to set up all their EMR systems. So that was a key criteria. Another key criteria was actually the interface for the consumer. With this being consumer products we want something that was sleek, easy to use and a partner that had good follow-up to ensure compliance. So other factors that were behind those two, speed of delivery, ability to handle high volume of actual scripts and other partners making sure that they work with other reputable partners as well. Not necessarily in iCare but other high-end pharma companies. What was not in the selection process that's different than many other companies is their ability for prior authorization or insurance claim adjudication. That was not something that we put into the factors as we were both evaluating e-pharmacy given the fact that this is a cash-paid product.

That's super helpful. Just given there's been some previous rumblings of recession, perhaps consumer sentiment being worse than people had anticipated, if that does end up occurring where there is a recession, how does that kind of change your initial call points if at all? And then would that cause you to focus on certain geographies over others? Thanks so much guys and congrats on all the progress. Okay,

so Dennis, this is Dan Shedlar and I'll start the first part of that question and I'll pass it to Sean to conclude it. So the topic of recession is one that we've certainly looked at. And as you think about relative risks for a product with our profile, we evaluated medical aesthetics field, beauty category, medical procedures like LASIK, dermatology and others. And I think reference time points where you could look back to say, gosh, how did those profiles or how did those categories behave? You don't have to go too far back to see how did these categories behave in the COVID era and then prior to that in the global financial crisis era, 2007 through 2011. Key takeaways, I think we would be naive to say that we're not immune, but historical precedent really suggests that the medical aesthetics category, and we'll use the neurotoxins and fillers as maybe the closest proxy to what we do, are a bit more insulated from a recession risk than highest price elective procedures such as cosmetic surgery. So that's one way to look at it. I think that it's fair to say discretionary spend will always potentially be impacted. But I think for a product like ours that impacts quality of life, that has such a large addressable market, and you can even kind of put it into a category like these medical aesthetics from the standpoint of consumerism, you could almost put this into a beauty-like view of this becoming something that is viewed as an essential, really, which I think could insulate us from significant downside risk. Just to quantify that, you could look at the categories that we're highlighting as the closest proxies, and you get at the high end single-digit negative impacts from a growth perspective at the peak of recession years, but on balance coming through in an extremely strong way.

And adding on to that in terms of the targets and given what was just shared by Dan, so in terms of if a recession was to happen, our 88 rep field force, we believe, is right size and it's really focused on 85% of all of beauty scripts, so I wouldn't see that changing. Again, given that minimal potential impact that Dan just highlighted, no, we're already also focused when you look at those 88 reps, those territories, we're really focused in calling in those major metropolitan markets, where you're focused on that higher-end consumer as well that has a little bit more resolve in those situations, so I don't see that call point changing.

Super helpful. Thanks, guys.

Your next question comes from the line of Matthew Caulfield from H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking our question. So, we were curious with the recent developments in the space regarding others' NDA submission and a product launch. Do you foresee specific scenarios where a prescriber could ultimately suggest an alternative approved eyedrop first prior to utilizing LNZ 100 pending

approval? Thanks a lot. Quick question, Matt. Sean and I might fact-cheek a little bit on that.

I think ultimately with these products, it's all around does it work, yes or no? Do you achieve as a consumer what you're expecting, which is can you go without your reading glasses, or at least a very significant part of the day? We've seen that with Beauty, that was not the case. It was a high-dose biocarbon that clearly did not deliver that expectation. On that expectation, therefore, after our initial good launch, people didn't refill because it didn't work. These are not products that you can get people to say and use it for three months and maybe you notice an effect. It's on the very first day, you either like it or you don't like it, and the liking it truly comes down to does it work. So, it's hard to believe how others currently on the market can achieve that. We'll see. We're very much focused on what we can deliver and that's where we know, again, if you just look at our clinical data, but especially also at the patient feedback, and we share some of that at the commercial day, how they're talking about the product and how they've experienced that very first drop that went into their lives. Because of that, what you see us do is very heavy sampling, which is different than what I was doing. So, I'll leave it with that. It's hard to see that you'll step in with one product and then if you will graduate to do something else, the sampling is going to be key and people pick the ones that they will like.

Yeah, just to add on to that, Mayur Lee. So, again, I've been out there at the conferences. I've spoken to the eye care professionals. I've seen the data of the products you're talking

about and I continue to see this as a category of one. Excellent. Very helpful and definitely looking forward to the PDUFA. Thanks, guys. Congrats. Thanks, Bob.

That concludes our question and answer session as I am showing no further questions. Thank you for participation and we will now conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.