Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this registration statement becomes effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box.  x

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  o

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  o

Concurrently with the execution of the Merger Agreement, Graphite entered into a Subscription Agreement (the “Subscription Agreement”) with certain investors (each, a “PIPE Investor”), pursuant to which the PIPE Investors subscribed for and purchased, and Graphite issued and sold to the PIPE Investors, on the Closing Date immediately prior to the Effective Time, an aggregate of 3,559,565 shares of New LENZ Common Stock at a price of $15.0299 per share (the “PIPE Shares”), for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $53.5 million (the “PIPE Financing”). Graphite granted the PIPE Investors certain registration rights in connection with the PIPE Financing. All references herein to the “Closing” refer to the closing of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement (the “Transactions” or the “Merger”), including the Merger and the transactions contemplated by the Subscription Agreement.

We are registering the offer and sale of these securities to satisfy certain registration rights we have granted. We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the securities by the selling securityholders. We will pay the expenses associated with registering the sales by the selling securityholders, as described in more detail in the section titled “Use of Proceeds” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

The selling securityholders may sell the securities described in this prospectus in a number of different ways and at varying prices. We provide more information about how the selling securityholders may sell their securities in the section titled “Plan of Distribution” appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. Before buying any securities, you should carefully read the discussion of the risks of investing in our securities in the section titled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 of this prospectus.

We may also provide a prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement to add information to, or update or change information contained in, this prospectus. You should read both this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or post-effective amendment to the registration statement together with the additional information to which we refer you in the section of this prospectus titled “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”

We obtained the industry and market data used throughout this prospectus from our own internal estimates and research, as well as from independent market research, industry and general publications and surveys, governmental agencies, publicly available information and research, surveys and studies conducted by third parties. Internal estimates are derived from publicly available information released by industry analysts and third-party sources, our internal research and our industry experience, and are based on assumptions made by us based on such data and our knowledge of our industry and market, which we believe to be reasonable. In some cases, we do not expressly refer to the sources from which this data is derived. In addition, while we believe the industry and market data included in this prospectus is reliable and based on reasonable assumptions, such data involve material risks and other uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors.” These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties or by us.

•We are a late-stage biopharmaceutical company with limited operating history. We have incurred significant losses and negative cash flows from operations since our formation, and we anticipate that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We have no products approved for commercial sale, which may make it difficult for you to evaluate our current business and predict our future success and viability.

•Our business depends entirely on the development and commercialization of LNZ100, and we do not have additional product candidates in our current development pipeline. If we are unable to successfully complete our clinical development program for LNZ100 and obtain the marketing approvals necessary to commercialize LNZ100, or experience significant delays in doing so, or if after obtaining marketing approvals, we fail to commercialize LNZ100, our business will be materially harmed. We currently generate no revenues from sales of any products and may never generate revenue or be profitable.

•Clinical trials are expensive, time-consuming, difficult to design and implement and involve an uncertain outcome. The outcome of preclinical testing and earlier clinical trials may not be predictive of the success of later clinical trials. The results of our clinical trials may not satisfy the requirements of the FDA, EMA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities, and we may incur additional costs or experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of such product candidate.

•Even if LNZ100 or any other product candidate receives marketing approval, they may fail to achieve market acceptance by ECPs and patients, and the market opportunity for these products, if approved, may be smaller than we estimate.

•If we are unable to establish sales and marketing capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties to sell and market our product candidates on acceptable terms, we may be unable to successfully commercialize our product candidates that obtain regulatory approval.

•If we are unable to obtain and maintain sufficient intellectual property protection for our technology and products and product candidates we may develop, or if the scope of the intellectual property protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors or other third parties could develop and commercialize products similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully develop and, if approved, commercialize our product candidates may be adversely affected.

•We face significant competition, and if our competitors develop and market technologies or products more rapidly than we do or that are more effective, safer or less expensive than the product candidates we develop, our commercial opportunities will be negatively impacted. Our product candidates may, if approved, also face competition from existing branded, generic and off-label products.

•We contract with third parties for the manufacture of our product candidates for our ongoing clinical trials, and expect to continue to do so for additional clinical trials and ultimately for commercialization. This reliance on third parties increases the risk that we will not have sufficient quantities of our product candidates or drugs or such quantities at an acceptable cost, which could delay, prevent or impair our development or commercialization efforts.

•We have relied, and expect to continue to rely on third parties, including independent clinical investigators and CROs, to conduct, supervise and monitor certain aspects of our clinical trials and any future preclinical studies. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with applicable regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for or commercialize our product candidates, or such approval or commercialization may be delayed, and our business could be substantially harmed.

•Our success is highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled executive officers and employees.

•An active trading market for our common stock may never develop or be sustained.

•The market price of our common stock is expected to be volatile, and the market price of the common stock may drop following the Merger.

•initiate additional clinical and other studies for our product candidates;

•change or add additional manufacturers or suppliers, some of which may require additional permits or other governmental approvals;

•create additional infrastructure to support our operations as a public company and our product development and planned future commercialization efforts;

•seek marketing approvals for our product candidates;

•establish a sales, marketing, and distribution infrastructure to commercialize any products for which we may obtain marketing approval;

•seek to identify, acquire, and develop additional product candidates;

•acquire or in-license other product candidates and technologies;

•make milestone or other payments in connection with the development or approval of our product candidates;

•maintain, protect, and expand our intellectual property portfolio; and

•experience any delays or encounter issues with any of the above.

•successful and timely completion of clinical development of LNZ100 and any other future product candidates;

•effective investigational new drug applications (“INDs”) from the FDA or comparable foreign applications that allow the commencement of our clinical trials or future clinical trials for such product candidates;

•completion of clinical studies in compliance with the FDA’s current Good Clinical Practices (“GCPs”) with positive results;

•the prevalence and severity of adverse events experienced with any of our product candidates;

•establishing and maintaining relationships with contract research organizations (“CROs”) and clinical sites for the clinical development, both in the United States and internationally, of our product candidates, including LNZ100 and any other future product candidates;

•timely receipt of marketing approvals from applicable regulatory authorities for any product candidates for which we successfully complete clinical development for their intended uses;

•making any required post-marketing approval commitments to applicable regulatory authorities;

•establishing and maintaining commercially viable supply and manufacturing relationships with third parties that can provide adequate products and services, in both amount and quality, to support clinical development and meet the market demand for product candidates that we develop, if approved;

•successful commercial launch following any marketing approval, including the development of a commercial infrastructure, whether in-house or with one or more collaborators;

•maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements, including the FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practice (“cGMP”) requirements;

•a continued acceptable safety profile both prior to and following any marketing approval of our product candidates;

•commercial acceptance of our product candidates by patients and the medical community;

•identifying, assessing and developing new product candidates;

•obtaining, maintaining and expanding patent protection, trade secret protection and regulatory exclusivity, both in the United States and internationally;

•protecting our rights in our intellectual property portfolio;

•defending against third-party interference or infringement claims, if any;

•obtaining favorable terms in any collaboration, licensing or other arrangements that may be necessary or desirable to develop, manufacture or commercialize our existing or acquired product candidates;

•addressing any competing therapies and technological and market developments; and

•attracting, hiring and retaining qualified personnel.

•inability to generate sufficient preclinical, toxicology, or other in vivo or in vitro data to support the initiation of clinical trials for any future product candidates;

•delays in sufficiently developing, characterizing or controlling a manufacturing process suitable for advanced clinical trials;

•delays in reaching agreement with the FDA or other regulatory authorities as to the design or implementation of our clinical trials;

•obtaining regulatory authorization to commence a clinical trial;

•delays in reaching, or failure to reach, agreement on acceptable terms with clinical trial sites or prospective CROs, the terms of which can be subject to extensive negotiation and may vary significantly among different clinical trial sites;

•obtaining institutional review board (“IRB”) approval at each trial site;

•recruiting suitable patients to participate in a clinical trial;

•having patients complete a clinical trial or return for post-treatment follow-up;

•inspections of clinical trial sites or operations by applicable regulatory authorities, or the imposition of a clinical hold;

•clinical sites, CROs or other third parties deviating from trial protocol or dropping out of a trial;

•failure to perform in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements, including the FDA’s GCP requirements, or applicable regulatory requirements in other countries;

•addressing patient safety concerns that arise during the course of a trial, including occurrence of adverse events associated with the product candidate that are viewed to outweigh its potential benefits;

•adding a sufficient number of clinical trial sites;

•manufacturing sufficient quantities of product candidate for use in clinical trials; or

•suspensions or terminations by IRBs of the institutions at which such trials are being conducted, by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (“DSMB”), for such trial or by the FDA or other regulatory authorities due to a number of factors, including those described above.

•changes in regulatory requirements or guidance, or receiving feedback from regulatory authorities, that requires us to modify the design of our clinical trials;

•clinical trials of our product candidates may produce negative or inconclusive results, and we may decide, or regulators may require us, to conduct additional clinical trials or abandon development programs;

•the number of patients required for clinical trials of our product candidates may be larger than we anticipate, enrollment in these clinical trials may be slower than we anticipate or participants may drop out of these clinical trials at a higher rate than we anticipate;

•third-party contractors may fail to comply with regulatory requirements or meet their contractual obligations to us in a timely manner, or at all;

•we or our investigators might have to suspend or terminate clinical trials of our product candidates for various reasons, including non-compliance with regulatory requirements, a finding that our product candidates have undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics, or a finding that the participants are being exposed to unacceptable health risks;

•the cost of clinical trials of our product candidates may be greater than we anticipate and we may not have funds to cover the costs;

•the supply or quality of our product candidates or other materials necessary to conduct clinical trials of our product candidates may be insufficient or inadequate;

•regulators may revise the requirements for approving our product candidates, or such requirements may not be as we anticipate; and

•any future collaborators that conduct clinical trials may face any of the above issues, and may conduct clinical trials in ways they view as advantageous to them but that are suboptimal for us.

•incur unplanned costs;

•be delayed in obtaining marketing approval for LNZ100 or any future product candidates or not obtain marketing approval at all;

•obtain marketing approval in some countries and not in others;

•obtain marketing approval for indications or patient populations that are not as broad as intended or desired;

•obtain marketing approval with labeling that includes significant use or distribution restrictions or safety warnings, including boxed warnings or a Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”);

•be subject to additional post-marketing testing requirements;

•be subject to changes in the way the product is administered; or

•have regulatory authorities withdraw or suspend their approval of the product.

•the efficacy and potential advantages of our product candidates compared to alternative treatments, including the existing standard of care;

•our ability to offer products for sale at competitive prices, particularly in light of the lower cost of alternative treatments;

•the clinical indications for which the product is approved;

•the convenience and ease of administration compared to alternative treatments;

•the willingness of the target patient population to try new therapies and of ECPs to prescribe these therapies;

•the strength of our marketing and distribution support;

•the timing of market introduction of competitive products;

•the potential for our competitors to limit our access to the market through anti-competitive contracts or other arrangements;

•the prevalence and severity of any side effects; and

•any restrictions on the use of our products together with other medications.

•size and nature of the patient population, and process for identifying patients;

•severity and difficulty of diagnosing the condition under investigation;

•availability and efficacy of approved drugs and other competing therapeutic candidates for the condition under investigation;

•the eligibility and exclusion criteria for the trial in question as defined in the protocol;

•our ability to recruit clinical trial investigators with the appropriate competencies and experience;

•the design of the clinical trial;

•perceived risks and benefits of the product candidate under study;

•ECPs’ and participants’ perceptions as to the potential advantages of the product candidate being studied in relation to other available therapies, including any new products that may be approved for the indications we are investigating;

•efforts to facilitate timely enrollment in clinical trials;

•participant referral practices of ECPs;

•our ability to monitor participants adequately during and after treatment;

•proximity and availability of clinical trial sites for prospective trial subjects;

•continued enrollment of prospective subjects by clinical trial sites; and

•the risk that subjects enrolled in clinical trials will drop out of the trials before completion.

•differing regulatory requirements and drug pricing regimes in foreign countries;

•potential issues due to aceclidine having been previously marketed and sold in Europe as a treatment for glaucoma, including, but not limited to potential competition from or for manufacturers and suppliers, and potential assumptions, concerns or biases resulting from the limited efficacy of the prior marketed products;

•unexpected changes in tariffs, trade barriers, price and exchange controls and other regulatory requirements;

•economic weakness, including inflation, or political instability in particular foreign economies and markets;

•compliance with tax, employment, immigration and labor laws for employees living or traveling abroad;

•foreign taxes, including withholding of payroll taxes;

•foreign currency fluctuations, which could result in increased operating expenses and reduced revenue, and other obligations incident to doing business in another country;

•difficulties staffing and managing foreign operations;

•workforce uncertainty in countries where labor unrest is more common than in the United States;

•potential liability under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) or comparable foreign regulations;

•challenges enforcing our contractual and intellectual property rights, especially in those foreign countries that do not respect and protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the United States;

•production shortages resulting from any events affecting raw material supply or manufacturing capabilities abroad; and

•business interruptions resulting from geopolitical actions, including war and terrorism.

•the USPTO and various foreign governmental patent agencies require compliance with a number of procedural, documentary, fee payment and other provisions during the patent process, the noncompliance with which can result in abandonment or lapse of a patent or patent application, and partial or complete loss of patent rights in the relevant jurisdiction;

•the USPTO requires us to disclose all material references to the Patent Examiner during prosecution of our patent applications at the USPTO, and failure to do so could result in a third party successfully challenging our ability to enforce a patent against an infringer;

•patent applications may not result in any patents being issued;

•granted patents may not have a claim scope that covers LNZ100 or any future product candidates;

•patents may be challenged, invalidated, modified, revoked, circumvented, found to be unenforceable or otherwise may not provide any competitive advantage;

•our competitors, many of whom have substantially greater resources than we do and many of whom have made significant investments in competing technologies, may seek or may have already obtained patents that will limit, interfere with or block our ability to make, use and sell our product candidates;

•there may be significant pressure on the U.S. government and international governmental bodies to limit the scope of patent protection both inside and outside the United States for treatments of diseases or conditions that prove successful, as a matter of public policy regarding worldwide health concerns; and

•countries other than the United States may have patent laws less favorable to patentees than those upheld by U.S. courts, allowing foreign competitors a better opportunity to create, develop and market competing products.

•others may be able to make formulations or compositions that are the same as or similar to our current and future product candidates, but that are not covered by the pending patent applications or patents that we own or any pending patent applications or patents that we may in-license in the future;

•others may be able to make product that is similar to our current and future product candidates that we intend to commercialize and that is not covered by the patents that we exclusively licensed and have the right to enforce;

•we, any of our future licensors or collaborators might not have been the first to make the inventions covered by the issued patents or pending patent applications that we own or may in-license in the future;

•we or any of our future licensors might not have been the first to file patent applications covering certain of its or those licensors’ inventions;

•others may independently develop similar or alternative technologies or duplicate any of our technologies without infringing or otherwise violating our owned intellectual property rights or any patent applications that we may license in the future;

•it is possible that our pending patent applications or those that we may own or license in the future will not lead to issued patents;

•issued patents that we either own or that we may license in the future may be revoked, modified or held valid or unenforceable, as a result of legal challenges by our competitors;

•issued patents that we either own or that we may license in the future may not provide us with any competitive advantages;

•others may have access to the same intellectual property rights licensed to us in the future on a non-exclusive basis;

•our competitors might conduct research and development activities in the United States and other countries that provide a safe harbor from patent infringement claims for certain research and development activities, as well as in countries where we do not have patent rights, and then use the information learned from such activities to develop competitive products for sale in our major commercial markets;

•we may not develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable;

•we cannot predict the scope of protection of any patent issuing based on our or any future licensors’ patent applications, including whether the patent applications that we own, or, in the future, in-licenses will result in issued patents with claims directed to our product candidates or uses thereof in the United States or in other foreign countries;

•the claims of any patent issuing based on our patent applications may not provide protection against competitors or any competitive advantages, or may be challenged by third parties;

•if enforced, a court may not hold that our patents are valid, enforceable or infringed;

•we may need to initiate litigation or administrative proceedings to enforce and/or defend our patent rights which will be costly whether we win or lose;

•we may choose not to file a patent application in order to maintain certain trade secrets or know-how, and a third party may subsequently file a patent application covering such intellectual property;

•we may fail to adequately protect and police our trademarks and trade secrets; and

•the patents of others may have an adverse effect on our business, including if others obtain patents claiming subject matter similar to or improving that covered by our patent applications.

•collaborators have significant discretion in determining the efforts and resources that they will apply to collaborations;

•collaborators may not pursue development and commercialization of our products or may elect not to continue or renew development or commercialization programs based on trial or test results, changes in our strategic focus due to the acquisition of competitive products, availability of funding or other external factors, such as a business combination that diverts resources or creates competing priorities;

•collaborators could independently develop, or develop with third parties, products that compete directly or indirectly with our current and future product candidates;

•a collaborator with marketing, manufacturing and distribution rights to one or more products may not commit sufficient resources to or otherwise not perform satisfactorily in carrying out these activities;

•we could grant exclusive rights to our collaborators that would prevent us from collaborating with others;

•collaborators may not properly maintain or defend our intellectual property rights or may use our intellectual property or proprietary information in a way that gives rise to actual or threatened litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our intellectual property or proprietary information or expose us to potential liability;

•disputes may arise between us and a collaborator that causes the delay or termination of the research, development or commercialization of our current or future product candidates or that results in costly litigation or arbitration that diverts management attention and resources;

•collaborations may be terminated, and, if terminated, may result in a need for additional capital to pursue further development or commercialization of the applicable current or future product candidates;

•collaborators may own or co-own intellectual property covering our products that results from our collaborating with them, and in such cases, we would not have the exclusive right to develop or commercialize such intellectual property; and

•a collaborator's sales and marketing activities or other operations may not be in compliance with applicable laws resulting in civil or criminal proceedings.

•the scope of rights granted under the license agreement and other interpretation-related issues;

•either party’s financial or other obligations under the license agreement;

•whether and the extent to which our technology and processes infringe on intellectual property of the licensor that is not subject to the licensing agreement;

•our right to sublicense patents and other rights under our collaborative development relationships to third parties;

•our diligence obligations with respect to the use of the licensed technology in relation to our development and commercialization of our product candidates, and what activities satisfy those diligence obligations;

•our right to transfer or assign the license;

•the inventorship or ownership of inventions and know-how resulting from the joint creation or use of intellectual property by any of our licensors and us and our partners; and

•the priority of invention of patented technology.

•the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with the design, implementation or results of our clinical trials;

•we may be unable to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities that a product candidate is safe and effective for its proposed indication;

•the results of clinical trials may not meet the level of statistical significance required by the FDA or comparable foreign regulatory authorities for approval;

•the population studied in the clinical trials may not be sufficiently broad or representative to assure efficacy and safety in the full population for which we seek approval;

•the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may disagree with our interpretation of data from nonclinical studies or clinical trials;

•we may be unable to demonstrate to the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities that our product candidate’s risk-benefit ratio for its proposed indication is acceptable;

•the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may fail to approve the manufacturing processes, test procedures and specifications or facilities of third-party manufacturers with which we contract for clinical and commercial supplies; and

•the approval policies or regulations of the FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities may significantly change in a manner rendering our clinical data insufficient for approval or resulting in delays in their regulatory approval.

•regulatory authorities may suspend, withdraw or limit approvals of that product, or seek an injunction against its manufacture or distribution;

•regulatory authorities may require additional warnings on the label;

•we may decide to remove the product from the market;

•we may be required to conduct post-marketing studies or change the way the product is administered;

•we may be sued and held liable for harm caused to subjects or patients;

•we may be subject to fines, injunctions or the imposition of criminal penalties; and

•our reputation and physician or patient acceptance of our products may suffer.

•restrictions on the marketing or manufacturing of our product candidates, withdrawal of the product from the market or voluntary or mandatory product recalls;

•manufacturing delays and supply disruptions where regulatory inspections identify observations of noncompliance requiring remediation;

•revisions to the labeling, including limitation on approved uses or the addition of additional warnings, contraindications or other safety information, including boxed warnings;

•imposition of a REMS, which may include distribution or use restrictions;

•requirements to conduct additional post-market clinical trials to assess the safety of the product;

•suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals;

•issuance of fines, untitled letters, warning letters or holds on clinical trials;

•refusal by the FDA to approve pending applications or supplements to approved applications filed by us or suspension or revocation of approvals;

•product seizure or detention, or refusal to permit the import or export of our product candidates; and

•injunctions or the imposition of civil or criminal penalties.

•changes to our manufacturing arrangements;

•additions or modifications to product labeling;

•the recall or discontinuation of our products; or

•additional record-keeping requirements, if any such changes were to be imposed on us, could adversely affect the operation of our business.

•the demand for our product candidates, if we obtain regulatory approval;

•our ability to set a competitive price that we believe is fair for our products;

•our ability to generate revenue and achieve or maintain profitability;

•the level of taxes that we are required to pay; and

•the availability of capital.

•the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits, among other things, persons from knowingly and willfully soliciting, receiving, offering or paying any remuneration (including any kickback, bribe, or rebate), directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in cash or in kind, to induce, or in return for, either the referral of an individual, or the purchase, lease, order or recommendation of any good, facility, item or service for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under a federal healthcare program, such as the Medicare and Medicaid programs. A person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it in order to have committed a violation. There are a number of statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting some common activities from prosecution, but the exceptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly and require strict compliance in order to offer protection.

•federal civil and criminal false claims laws, including the False Claims Act (“FCA”), which can be enforced through civil “qui tam” or “whistleblower” actions, and civil monetary penalty laws, impose criminal and civil penalties against individuals or entities for, among other things, knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented, claims for payment or approval from Medicare, Medicaid, or other federal health care programs that are false or fraudulent; knowingly making or causing a false statement material to a false or fraudulent claim or an obligation to pay money to the federal government; or knowingly concealing or knowingly and improperly avoiding or decreasing such an obligation. Manufacturers can be held liable under the FCA even when they do not submit claims directly to government payors if they are deemed to “cause” the submission of false or fraudulent claims. In addition, the government may assert that a claim including items or services resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the FCA. The FCA also permits a private individual acting as a “whistleblower” to bring actions on behalf of the federal government alleging violations of the FCA and to share in any monetary recovery. When an entity is determined to have violated the federal civil FCA, the government may impose civil fines and penalties for each false claim, plus treble damages, and exclude the entity from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs.

•the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), which created new federal criminal statutes that prohibit knowingly and willfully executing, or attempting to execute, a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any healthcare benefit program, regardless of the payor (e.g., public or private) and knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up by any trick or device a material fact or making any materially false statements in connection with the delivery of, or payment for, healthcare benefits, items or services relating to healthcare matters. Similar to the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, a person or entity can be found guilty of violating HIPAA without actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it.

•HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (“HITECH”), and their respective implementing regulations, which impose requirements on certain covered healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses as well as their respective business associates and their subcontractors that perform services for them that involve the use, or disclosure of, individually identifiable health information, relating to the privacy, security and transmission of individually identifiable health information without appropriate authorization. HITECH also created new tiers of civil monetary penalties, amended HIPAA to make civil and criminal penalties directly applicable to business associates, and gave state attorneys general new authority to file civil actions for damages or injunctions in federal courts to enforce the federal HIPAA laws and seek attorneys’ fees and costs associated with pursuing federal civil actions.

•the federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act, created under the ACA and its implementing regulations, which require manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to CMS information related to payments or other transfers of value made to covered recipients, including physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), certain non-physician healthcare professionals (such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, among others), and teaching hospitals, as well as information regarding ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members.

•federal consumer protection and unfair competition laws, which broadly regulate marketplace activities and activities that potentially harm consumers.

•analogous state and foreign laws and regulations, such as state and foreign anti-kickback, false claims, consumer protection, and unfair competition laws which may apply to pharmaceutical business practices, including but not limited to, research, distribution, sales and marketing arrangements as well as submitting

•the failure of the third party to manufacture LNZ100 according to our schedule, or at all, including if our third-party contractors give greater priority to the supply of other products over the supply of LNZ100 or otherwise do not satisfactorily perform according to the terms of the agreements between us and them;

•the reduction or termination of production or deliveries by suppliers, or the raising of prices or renegotiation of terms;

•the termination or nonrenewal of arrangements or agreements by our third-party contractors at a time that is costly or inconvenient for us;

•the breach by the third-party contractors of their agreements with us;

•the failure of third-party contractors to comply with applicable regulatory requirements;

•the failure of the third party to manufacture LNZ100 according to our specifications;

•the mislabeling of clinical supplies for any future clinical trials we conduct, potentially resulting in the wrong dose amounts being supplied or active drug or placebo not being properly identified;

•clinical supplies not being delivered to clinical sites on time for any future clinical trials we conduct,, leading to clinical trial interruptions, or drug supplies not being distributed to commercial vendors in a timely manner, resulting in lost sales; and

•the misappropriation of our proprietary information, including our trade secrets and know-how.

•Ji Xing may not commit sufficient resources to the development, regulatory approval, marketing, or distribution of any LNZ Product;

•Ji Xing may be unable to successfully complete the clinical development of any LNZ Product or obtain all necessary approvals from foreign regulatory agencies in any of the Greater China territories required to market any LNZ Product;

•Ji Xing may develop or commercialize (or attempt to develop or commercialize) an LNZ Product in a manner that may adversely impact our development or commercialization of either such product candidate and/or future product candidates outside of such collaboration, including for example (1) the risk that any clinical trials conducted by Ji Xing may result in unfavorable safety or efficacy results that negatively impact our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our products in jurisdictions outside Greater China and (2) the risk that, if approved and commercialized, patients report that the products developed by Ji Xing are not effective, or not effective for long enough, and it negatively impacts our ability to market any products outside Greater China, if approved;

•Ji Xing may not properly maintain our intellectual property rights or may use our proprietary information in such a way as to invite litigation that could jeopardize or invalidate our proprietary information or expose us to potential litigation;

•Ji Xing may terminate its agreement with us prior to completing development or commercialization of any LNZ Product under the collaboration, in whole or in part, adversely impacting the potential approval and our revenue from the licensed product;

•Ji Xing may fail to manufacture any applicable LNZ Product in compliance with requirements of applicable foreign regulatory agencies and in commercial quantities sufficient to meet market demand;

•there may be disputes between us and Ji Xing, including disagreements regarding the Ji Xing License Agreement, that may result in (1) the delay or prevention of the achievement of development, regulatory and commercial objectives that would result in milestone payments, (2) the delay or termination of the development or commercialization of any LNZ Product in Greater China, costly litigation or arbitration that diverts our management’s attention and resources and/or termination of the underlying agreement;

•Ji Xing may not comply with applicable regulatory guidelines with respect to developing or commercializing any LNZ Product, which could adversely impact the development of or sales thereof, either in Greater China or (depending on the scope of the noncompliant activities) by us in other jurisdictions, and could result in administrative or judicially imposed sanctions, including warning letters, civil and criminal penalties, injunctions, product seizures or detention, product recalls, total or partial suspension of production and refusal to approve any new drug applications;

•Ji Xing may experience financial difficulties; and

•increased operating expenses and cash requirements;

•the assumption of indebtedness or contingent liabilities;

•the issuance of equity securities which would result in dilution to our stockholders;

•assimilation of operations, intellectual property, products and product candidates of an acquired company, including difficulties associated with integrating new personnel;

•the diversion of management’s attention from our existing product candidates and initiatives in pursuing such an acquisition or strategic partnership;

•retention of key employees, the loss of key personnel, and uncertainties in our ability to maintain key business relationships;

•risks and uncertainties associated with the other party to such a transaction, including the prospects of that party and their existing products or product candidates and regulatory approvals; and

•our inability to generate revenue from acquired intellectual property, technology and/or products sufficient to meet our objectives or even to offset the associated transaction and maintenance costs.

•price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

•the timing and results of clinical trials for LNZ100 and any future product candidates that we may develop;

•our ability to obtain regulatory approvals for LNZ100 any any future product candidates that we may develop, and any delays or failures to obtain such approvals

•commencement or termination of collaborations for our product development and research programs;

•failure to achieve development, regulatory or commercialization milestones under our collaborations;

•failure or discontinuation of any of our product development and research programs;

•results of preclinical studies, clinical trials or regulatory approvals of product candidates of our competitors, or announcements about new research programs or product candidates of our competitors;

•the level of expenses related to any of our research programs, clinical development programs or product candidates that we may develop;

•the results of our efforts to develop additional product candidates or products;

•regulatory actions with respect to our products or those of our competitors;

•developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights;

•announced or completed acquisitions of businesses, products or intellectual property by us or our competitors;

•actual or anticipated changes in the financial projections or development timelines we may provide to the public or our failure to meet those projections or timelines;

•market conditions in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and ophthalmology sectors;

•changes in the structure of healthcare payment systems;

•sales of shares of our common stock by us or our stockholders, or expectations that such sales may occur, and the expiration of market stand-off or lock-up agreements;

•the recruitment or departure of key personnel;

•the public’s reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the SEC;

•rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;

•fluctuations in the trading volume of our shares or the size of our public float;

•actual or anticipated changes or fluctuations in our results of operations;

•actual or anticipated developments in our business, our competitors’ businesses, or changes in the market valuations of similar companies and the competitive landscape generally;

•changes in the market valuations of similar companies;

•failure of securities analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in actual or future expectations of investors or securities analysts, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;

•litigation involving us, our industry or both;

•governmental or regulatory actions or audits;

•regulatory or legal developments in the United States and other countries;

•general economic conditions and trends;

•announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;

•sales of securities by us or our securityholders in the future;

•if we do not achieve the perceived benefits of the Merger as rapidly or to the extent anticipated by financial or industry analysts; and

•changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations, or principles.

•authorize “blank check” preferred stock, which could be issued by our board of directors without stockholder approval and may contain voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our common stock;

•create a classified board of directors whose members serve staggered three-year terms;

•specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our board of directors;

•prohibit stockholder action by written consent;

•establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder approvals to be brought before an annual meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our board of directors;

•provide that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum;

•provide that our directors may be removed (i) only for cause and (ii) only by the affirmative vote of the holders of 75% or more of the outstanding shares of capital stock then entitled to vote at an election of directors;

•expressly authorize our board of directors to make, alter, amend or repeal our amended and restated bylaws; and

•require supermajority votes of the holders of our common stock to amend specified provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws; however, if our board of directors recommends that the stockholders approve the amendment at a meeting of stockholders, the amendment shall only require the affirmative vote of the majority of the outstanding shares of capital stock entitled to vote on such amendment.

•We may, at our discretion, indemnify employees and agents in those circumstances where indemnification is permitted by applicable law;

•We are required to advance expenses, as incurred, to our directors and officers in connection with defending a proceeding, except that such directors or officers shall undertake to repay such advances if it is ultimately determined that such person is not entitled to indemnification;

•We are not obligated pursuant to our bylaws to indemnify a person with respect to proceedings initiated by that person against us or our other indemnitees, except with respect to proceedings authorized by our board of directors or brought to enforce a right to indemnification;

•The rights conferred in our bylaws are not exclusive, and we are authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors, officers, employees and agents, and to obtain insurance to indemnify such persons; and

•We may not retroactively amend our bylaw provisions to reduce our indemnification obligations to directors, officers, employees, and agents.

•we were required to file a Form 8-K to report the Form 10 type information after closing of the Merger with the SEC reflecting our status as an entity that is not a shell company;

•we will not be eligible to use a Form S-3 until 12 full calendar months after closing of the Merger;

•we will need to wait at least 60 calendar days after closing of the Merger to file a Form S-8;

•we will be an “ineligible issuer” for three years following the closing of the Merger, which will prevent us from (i) incorporating by reference in our Form S-1 filings, (ii) using a free writing prospectus, or (iii) taking advantage of the well-known seasoned issuer (WKSI) status regardless of our public float;

•investors who (i) were affiliates of LENZ OpCo or Graphite at the time the Merger was submitted for the vote or consent of the respective company’s stockholders, (ii) received securities in the Merger (i.e., Rule 145(c) securities) and (iii) publicly offer or sell such securities will be deemed to be engaged in a distribution of such securities, and therefore to be underwriters with respect to resales of those securities, and accordingly such securities may not be included in any resale registration statement unless such securities are sold only in a fixed price offering in which such investors are named as underwriters in the prospectus; and

•Rule 144(i)(2) will limit the ability to publicly resell Rule 145(c) securities per Rule 145(d), as well as any other “restricted” or “control” securities per Rule 144 until one year after the Form 10 information is filed with the SEC.

Certain statements in this prospectus may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including those relating to the Transactions and their expected benefits; our performance following the Transactions; our plans relating to the clinical development of our product candidates, including the size, number and areas to be evaluated; our plans relating to commercializing our product candidates, if approved, including the geographic areas of focus and strategy; and our ability to obtain funding for its operations. Forward-looking statements include statements relating to our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including those relating to the Merger and related transactions. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.

•the likelihood of our clinical trials demonstrating safety and efficacy of our product candidates to the satisfaction of the FDA, and other positive results;

•the timing, scope and likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals for LNZ100;

•our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of LNZ100;

•our plans relating to the development of LNZ100;

•the size of the market opportunity for LNZ100, including our estimates of the size of the affected population and potential adoption rate;

•our plans relating to commercializing LNZ100, if approved, including the geographic areas of focus and sales strategy;

•our competitive position and the success of competing therapies that are or may become available;

•the beneficial characteristics, and the potential safety, efficacy and therapeutic effects of LNZ100;

•the need to hire additional personnel and our ability to attract and retain such personnel;

•our plans relating to the further development and manufacturing of LNZ100 and any future product candidates;

•the expected potential benefits of strategic collaborations with third parties and our ability to attract collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise;

•the rate and degree of market acceptance and clinical utility of LNZ100 and any other product candidates we may develop;

•the impact of existing laws and regulations and regulatory developments in the United States and other jurisdictions;

•our intellectual property position, including the scope of protection we are able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering LNZ100, including the extensions of existing patent terms where available, the validity of intellectual property rights held by third parties, and our ability not to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate any third-party intellectual property rights;

•our continued reliance on third parties to conduct any additional clinical trials of LNZ100 or any future product candidates, and for the manufacture of our product candidates for any such trials;

•the accuracy of our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing;

•our financial performance;

•costs related to the Merger;

•our ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Merger;

•the period over which we estimate our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our future operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements;

•our expectations regarding the period during which we will remain an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act; and

•our anticipated use of our existing resources and the proceeds from the Transactions.

In connection with the consummation of the Merger, the Graphite board of directors declared a special cash dividend to its stockholders (the “Special Dividend”), which was paid on March 21, 2024. The Special Dividend was in the amount of $1.03 per share of Graphite’s common stock and was payable in cash to the stockholders of record of Graphite as of March 18, 2024 that continued to hold their shares through the ex-dividend date of March 22, 2024. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the growth and development of our business. Other than the Special Dividend, we have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We do not intend to pay cash dividends to our stockholders in the foreseeable future. Investors should not purchase our common stock with the expectation of receiving cash dividends.

a)each then-outstanding share of LENZ’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“LENZ common stock”), was converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Graphite’s common stock, par value $0.00001 per share (“Graphite common stock”), based on a ratio calculated in accordance with the Merger Agreement (the “exchange ratio”),

b)each then-outstanding share of LENZ’s preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share (“LENZ preferred stock”), was converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Graphite common stock equal to the exchange ratio multiplied by the aggregate number of LENZ common stock into which each share of LENZ preferred stock is then convertible,

c)each then-outstanding option to purchase LENZ common stock was assumed by Graphite, subject to adjustment as set forth in the Merger Agreement and

d)each then-outstanding warrant to purchase shares of LENZ common stock or LENZ preferred stock was converted into a warrant to purchase shares of Graphite common stock, subject to adjustment as set forth in the Merger Agreement.

1.Description of the Transaction

2.Basis of Pro Forma Presentation

(i)Reflects the number of shares of common stock of the combined company that Graphite equity holders owned as of the effective time of the merger pursuant to the Merger Agreement. This amount is calculated, for purposes of this unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information, based on shares of Graphite common stock outstanding at December 31, 2023 as effected by the reverse stock-split, and contemplation of equity instruments that are in-the-money and expected to be net exercised using the treasury stock method.

(ii)Reflects the price per share of Graphite common stock, which is the closing bid price of Graphite common stock as reported by Nasdaq on March 18, 2024, as effected by the reverse stock split (See Note F).

(iii)Reflects the estimated acquisition-date fair value of the assumed Graphite equity awards attributable to pre-merger service outstanding as of the effective time of the merger.

3.Shares of Graphite Common Stock Issued to LENZ Stockholders upon Closing of the Merger

4.Adjustments to Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Statements

A.To reflect the sale and issuance of approximately 3,559,565 shares of Graphite’s common stock with a par value of $0.00001, at a per share price of $15.03, by Graphite as a result of the Graphite private placement that occurred substantially concurrently with the closing of the merger for $53.5 million in gross proceeds, less an estimated $4.0 million in issuance costs.

B.To reclassify $1.5 million from accrued compensation to accrued expenses to conform Graphite’s balance sheet presentation to LENZ’s.

C.To derecognize $1.1 million of Graphite’s prepaid expenses including $0.7 million of prepaid directors’ and officers’ insurance and $0.4 million of research and development tax credits that cannot be utilized upon closing of the merger (See Note K).

D.To reflect preliminary estimated transaction costs of $1.9 million, not yet reflected in the historical financial statements, that are expected to be incurred by LENZ in connection with the merger, such as legal fees, accounting expenses and consulting fees, as an increase in accrued liabilities and a reduction to additional paid-in capital in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet. As the merger is accounted for as a reverse recapitalization equivalent to the issuance of equity for the net assets, primarily cash and short-term investments, of Graphite, these direct and incremental costs are treated as a reduction of the net proceeds received within additional paid-in capital (See Note L).

E.To reflect preliminary estimated transaction costs of $7.4 million, not yet reflected in the historical financial statements, which are expected to be incurred by Graphite in connection with the merger, such as adviser fees, legal, and directors’ and officers’ liability insurance expenses, as an increase in other current liabilities and accumulated deficit in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheet and as selling, general and administrative expense in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined statement of operations (See Note K).

F.To reflect (1) $0.3 million of consideration transferred related to pre-combination service of replacement awards and (2) the post-combination share-based compensation expense of $0.7 million as an increase in additional paid-in-capital and accumulated deficit related to the acceleration of vesting upon the change of control and termination of employment for certain awards (See Note L).

G.Reclassification of $143.3 million to additional paid-in-capital, related to LENZ preferred stock, and reflecting the conversion of 52,947,011 shares of LENZ preferred stock and 2,744,184 shares of LENZ Class B common stock into LENZ common stock immediately prior to the merger to be exchanged for 11,260,672 shares of Graphite common stock at an exchange ratio of 0.2022.

H.Reclassification of $64,000 from LENZ common stock to additional paid-in-capital related to LENZ common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2023, after giving effect to the conversion of LENZ

I.Concurrent with the closing of the merger, a special cash dividend of $60.0 million will be paid to Graphite stockholders.

J.Represents the conversion of LENZ’s preferred warrants into warrants to purchase Graphite common stock upon the closing of the merger, resulting in a reduction in the warrant liability of $0.9 million. Also represents the elimination of other income (loss) of $0.1 million as these warrants were recorded at fair value, and subsequently adjusted to their current fair value at each reporting period with changes reflected in earnings, for warrants that convert upon consummation of the merger.

K.To reflect the elimination of Graphite’s historical net equity, which represents the net assets acquired in the reverse capitalization:

L.The pro forma adjustments recorded in additional paid-in capital as noted include: