BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Rod de Greef: Yes, you bet. I think clearly we still need to finish the divestiture of CBS. We are in the process of a pretty comprehensive strategic review of our product portfolio internally. So we’re having some fun going through that process. I look forward to working with Garrie and the marketing team on the initiatives that he mentioned which market share is one measurement of our leadership position in biopreservation. But we have some things in mind that we’re going to let loose here in the next quarter or two which will sort of put that — the definition of leadership, it’ll expand the scope of that. So I look forward to being involved in that too.

Matthew Stanton: Super. Thank you.

Operator: And our next question comes from Matt from Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead, Matt.

Matt Hewitt: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe first up to extrapolate a little bit on the funding environment. Obviously, there was an improvement to Q1, and I’m just curious, historically, how long of a lag is it between when your customers and partners are seeing or increased funding or feeling better about their balance sheets to when trials are kicking off, when you start to see those orders? Is it one quarter? Is it two quarters? Just help us think through the lag there?

Rod de Greef: It’s a very tough question to answer with any level of specificity. But I would say that, and again, this is this market segment that would be coming through distribution. So I would say that it’s probably two to three quarters. I think that’s when we see it really start to flow through. And that’s consistent with what our largest distributor is telling us with respect to a stronger second half of the year versus first half of the year.

MattHewitt: Got it. And then regarding the two new approvals here in the first quarter, customers getting those therapies approved, how should we be thinking about the ramp from those products? I know at least one of the two has been pretty guarded on how they’re talking about it, but how do you plan for that ramp? Is it something that you have a little bit better visibility and therefore as you look out, whether it’s later this year or next year you start to anticipate that or how should we as analysts be thinking about that ramp?

Rod de Greef: Yes. I mean, by definition the ramp is built into not only our actual results, but what we are saying about what the future looks like. So the one you’re speaking of specifically we talked about that one last quarter and they definitely ramped up purchases at the end of 23 in anticipation of what I believe they knew to be their approval coming down the pipe. And the visibility that we have is a rolling four-quarter forecast, non-binding, and that gives us a sense of how they think they’re going to do. And so I can say with that particular customer, as I did last quarter that the forecast is better than it was for 23. So that suggests that kind of uptake or adoption of their therapy. That’s the best visibility we have.

MattHewitt: Got it. All right. Thank you very much.

Operator: And our next question comes from Thomas from Lake Street Capital. Please go ahead, Thomas.

Thomas Flaten: Hi, guys. Appreciate you taking the questions. Rod, I think on the last call, you mentioned that SciSafe facilities were running about 70%, 80% capacity something like that. How do you guys think about not just when to pull the trigger on the next facility, but what that trigger would be?

Rod de Greef: Yes, it’s a good question. So I think that with respect to the Boston facility, it’s really a consolidation and increasing our capacity there by basically putting a mezzanine level in to that building and not quite doubling capacity there, but certainly having a strong impact. The other is reviewing the New Jersey sites that we have, four of them, which really do need to be consolidated into one larger facility. And I think we’re in the process of working through what that could look like. I’m just going to pick some numbers. But let’s say that currently we’re utilizing 80,000 square feet. We would be looking to perhaps lease one building that would have 100 or 120,000 square feet available. So thereby taking up the existing capacity that we have, but allowing us to have a good 40% or 50% more available.

Thomas Flaten: Got it. And I apologize if I missed this. And I know ThawSTAR is a very small product, but it has a disproportionate drag on the growth rate in your biostorage services unit, or revenue line, sorry. Any thoughts on what to do with that to maybe make it less of a drag?

Rod de Greef: Well, I think that the drag ultimately comes from the fact that there are two varieties of that product. One is for Vials and one is for cryo bags. In October of last year, we made a decision to stop shipping the bag version of the device based on some quality issues that we had that we’re working through. We didn’t want to dig the hole deeper. We believe it has to do with the shipping of the units and the inability of the unit to handle that transportation cycle. Nevertheless, I think longer term what we’re exploring is the idea that, that technology would be unique to both the CellSeal Vial that we have and also the new soon to be introduced LVC [ph] cassette that is an extension of the CellSeal product line and have it be dedicated to thawing those so it becomes more of a razor blade model as opposed to a standalone device that will thaw any cryo bag, which presents its own difficulties and challenges from a technology standpoint.