Biodesix, Inc. (NASDAQ:BDSX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

I think now with the addition of radiomics, I think you can also add an AI component, and I think the multi-omics opportunity with AI is completely different than what it’s been historically. So, we think we’re well-positioned. Again, we think our rich history and track record of success and experience puts us in a pretty strong position to continue to innovate and develop on that front. I think it’s too early to really tell and guide us to what may be next from the industry perspective. But most importantly, as you think about it from a patient perspective, I think we’re moving in the right direction to really truly start to introduce personalized medicine where patients can get the treatment that’s best for them in a timely fashion based upon the utilization of machine learning and AI.

And I fully expect that Biodesix will play a role in that.

Kyle Mikson: Great. Okay. Really interesting. Thanks guys for taking the time.

Scott Hutton: Yes. Thanks, Kyle.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Tejas Savant with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Unidentified Analyst: Hello. This is on for Tejas. Thank you for taking our questions. Maybe to begin, can you provide your thoughts on cash burn in 2023 and levers that you have to dial it up or down depending on the base business trends? And then what would be the €“ on the agenda as you seek to flex up or flex down those investments?

Robin Harper Cowie: Good morning, Yuko. As we’ve said for several quarters, cash, our balance sheet strength is of critical importance to us and I’m sure everybody else out in there in the industry. We have several levers that we can pull to either ramp down or ramp up spend. Our focus is on near-term revenue growth. So, as Scott mentioned, keeping very close eye on all of our studies and projects that are geared towards longer-term revenue growth. We can ramp those down to slow spend, but also as we’re seeing increased revenue growth and greater opportunities. We have opportunities to add to our commercial organization to really focus in on those areas that are growing maybe more quickly than other areas to try and speed things up. So, it’s really a €“ we’re consistently monitoring the situation and trying to right size our investments to minimize our burn and maximize our revenue.

Scott Hutton: Yes. Yuko, I would add to what Robin said, just as a reminder with five on market tests all with Medicare coverage and four of them with private payers and the fifth hopefully soon to have private payer coverage. We’re really excited about our ability to positively impact patient’s lives. And so, we really have tried to channel our time, our interest, and our investment towards that commercial expansion. We know that we haven’t really shared to date our path to profitability, but we think that’s key. So, I think what you’ll continue to see is a very intentional and prudent scale back on those items that can’t positively impact revenue growth in the near-term.

Unidentified Analyst: Got it. That was really helpful color. And then I was wondering if you could provide a little more color around the biopharma backlog mix? Are these large or small pharma companies? Are they earlier or later stage trial retrospective or prospective? What is the degree of client concentration?

Scott Hutton: Great question, Yuko. It really is a nice mix of all of the above, right. We’ve got a good blend of, what I’ll call major large biopharmaceutical companies, many of which we’ve worked with and collaborated with over a number of years. So, that’s really encouraging because you see the momentum build and they continue to investigate and study those drugs and the test opportunities and assay opportunities we have. So, those are exciting to us, but I referenced earlier to Kyle’s question, that we’ve got a record number of dollars under contract. We also have the largest in-bound request for proposals, kind of occurring over the last few weeks. So, for us, we think there’s a nice blend of both prospective and retrospective opportunities.