Our Science
Vision Restoration through Disease Modification
Lento Bio aims to target the underlying cause of near-vision loss with aging — the ability of the lens to bend to focus light, known as accommodation. This is caused by the progressive stiffening of the crystalline lens due to a widening gap between molecular damage accumulation and the ability of the lens's glutathione pathway to defend against it.
We are developing LB-01, a small molecule eye drop delivered as a prodrug that fills the gap. It is the first therapeutic designed to restore lens flexibility by reversing the underlying aging damage, rather than masking symptoms.
Why LB-01 Is Different
Five reasons this isn't
another eye drop
- Restores lens flexibility and anticipated to restore accommodation
- Targeting underlying aging damage will lead to durable effects
- Mimics natural protective compounds lost to aging but with better pharmacokinetics and on-target effects
- Powerful restoration of flexibility demonstrated preclinically
- High corneal and lens penetration enables effective delivery to target tissue
① Restores Lens Flexibility
The lens was meant to bend
Accommodation — the lens changing shape to focus at different distances — is what presbyopia takes away. Without it, you lose your full field of vision.
- Glasses and contacts compensate but cannot restore accommodation — you're always choosing between near and far
- LB-01 restores the material property that was lost — giving the lens back its ability to deform and refocus naturally
② Durable By Design
Repair the damage, don't mask it
Lens crystallin proteins are never replaced — the ones you're born with are the ones you die with. Over decades, molecular damage accumulates, including disulfide crosslinks in particular, progressively rigidifying the tissue.
- LB-01 cleaves the aberrant crosslinks that stiffen the lens
- By repairing structural damage rather than masking symptoms, effects are expected to persist — unlike miotics, which wear off in hours
The lens relies on glutathione (GSH) — a small-molecule antioxidant — as its primary defense against oxidative damage. In young lenses, glutathione reduce disulfide crosslinks and other forms of oxidative damage to crystallin, keeping the tissue flexible. With age, glutathione levels in the lens nucleus decline dramatically, leading directly to lens stiffening and presbyopia.
- LB-01 functionally mimics glutathione's protective role, but is more tissue penetrant and better at reducing disulfides than other protective monothiols.
④ Powerful Preclinical Proof
The data speaks for itself
(p<0.0001 vs vehicle)
after 2-day treatment
*Degree to which lens strain (total compression under load / starting axial diameter of lens) has shifted from old, untreated levels to youthful levels following treatment.
- Pre-presbyopic vision is achievable with far less than 100% rejuvenation — presbyopia occurs abruptly at a ~2.5–3 diopter threshold, while youthful accommodation can exceed 10 diopters
- Ex vivo treatment of human lenses is limited to just 2 days, so the final therapeutic effect may be even greater
⑤ Prodrug Delivery Across the Cornea
Overcoming the corneal barrier.
The cornea is a formidable barrier — getting a drug across it and into the lens in therapeutic concentrations is one of the hardest challenges in ophthalmology.
- LB-01's prodrug formulation is designed to cross the cornea intact and convert to active drug inside the eye
- Far higher aqueous humour and lens levels in rabbit eyes than LB-01 alone
- Self-administered eye drop — no injection, no surgery, no clinic visit