BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Thomas Flaten: Got it. And then just one quick final one, if I might. I know there’s a lot of interest in understanding obviously what the forecast looks like for next year, but maybe even more importantly, kind of a midrange forecast. I know you previously had the 2025 numbers out there. You feel comfortable enough to map that out, what that midrange forecast might look like?

Rod de Greef: I don’t have a specific timeframe, but I’ll throw a piece of data to that that we find pretty interesting. So, we’re currently in — the media that is, is embedded in 11 approved cell and gene therapies. And when we look through 2024, it’s anticipated from the data we have at least that there’s another 19 potential approvals in the process, 12 of which were embedded in. So, it’s possible that by the end of 2024, the number of therapies that our media is in has doubled. So, that — to us, that’s a very inspiring number and looks good for what 2025 and beyond would bring for us.

Thomas Flaten: Excellent. Appreciate taking the questions. Thanks.

Rod de Greef: You bet.

Operator: Next question comes from the line of Michael Okunewitch with Maxim Group. Your line is open.

Michael Okunewitch: Hey guys. Thank you for taking the questions. So, I guess I’d like to see if you can give any color on how the current challenging biotech environment could be impacting the longer-term opportunity within cell and therapy? I guess how much of your longer-term opportunity do you see being driven by larger biopharmas who may be able to readily invest into cell and gene therapy versus smaller biotechs, where you may have more trouble with access to capital?

Rod de Greef: Yes, I think that it’s a good question. A very — I’d say 20% of our revenue on the media side comes from what we call those small R&D companies labs, et cetera. I think the majority of our revenue, 50% of our direct revenue comes from approved therapies. And I should say companies that have approved therapies. And as that number gets bigger, I believe that as a percentage of total media revenue, that is going to get bigger in addition to the fact that when we get a small company on board, particularly early stage, it takes several years for the revenue level as they go through preclinical into Phase 1 into Phase 2 to actually have any substantive impact on our revenue line. So, while from our perspective, the more the merrier, if there is a little bit of a shakeout in the early stage of things, that’s — we don’t believe that’s going to impact us much, if at all.

Michael Okunewitch: All right. Thank you for that. And then just one more for me, and I’ll hop back in the queue. When you’re looking at the sale of the freezer business and the potential to free up what could be a decent bit of capital, how do you look at deploying that? Do you think that this is something where you could look at additional M&A? Are there any areas that you would be looking at? Or do you believe the best use of that capital could be to just help with the return to profitability?

Rod de Greef: Well, for sure, the focus is on profitability, right, that’s number one. With respect to where capital would be deployed, it’s going to be deployed in the business segments, if you will, the product lines that we believe are going to drive profitable growth. So, we want to invest in our growth. Is it possible that some of that may be inorganic? Sure, it’s possible, but it’s certainly not a focus. And if it was going to happen from an inorganic standpoint, it would be very, very adjacent to our current core technology. So, really, it’s about putting the capital to work against the product lines that we know can grow and profitability over time.

Michael Okunewitch: All right. Thank you very much for taking my questions.

Rod de Greef: You bet.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. Mr. De Greef, I’ll turn the call back over to you.