Telesis Bio Reports Second Quarter and First Half 2024 Financial Results

Rhea-AI Summary

Telesis Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: TBIO) reported its Q2 and H1 2024 financial results. Key highlights include:

1. Revenue decreased to $1.6 million in Q2 2024 from $7.0 million in Q2 2023.

2. Gross margin dropped to -52% in Q2 2024 from 71% in Q2 2023, primarily due to restructuring charges.

3. Operating expenses improved by 14% to $10.7 million in Q2 2024.

4. Net loss increased to $13.2 million ($7.62 per share) in Q2 2024 from $8.4 million ($5.10 per share) in Q2 2023.

5. The company is advancing its Gibson SOLA reagent platform and continuing its Pfizer collaboration.

6. Telesis Bio divested its Eton subsidiary and underwent restructuring to reduce costs.

7. As of June 30, 2024, the company had $10.3 million in cash and equivalents, with $5.3 million in notes payable.

Positive

• Restructuring efforts aim to significantly reduce future expenses
• Operating expenses improved by 14% year-over-year
• Continuation of strategic research collaboration with Pfizer
• Advancing Gibson SOLA reagent platform with growing market interest

Negative

• Revenue decreased by 77% year-over-year to $1.6 million in Q2 2024
• Gross margin dropped to -52% in Q2 2024 from 71% in Q2 2023
• Net loss increased to $13.2 million in Q2 2024 from $8.4 million in Q2 2023
• Cash position of $10.3 million with $5.3 million in notes payable as of June 30, 2024

Insights

Financial Analyst

Telesis Bio's Q2 2024 results reveal significant challenges. Revenue dropped sharply to $1.6 million from $7.0 million in Q2 2023, a 77% decline. This was driven by a $1.8 million reduction in product revenue and a $3.5 million decrease in collaboration revenue. The gross margin turned negative at -52%, primarily due to $1.8 million in restructuring charges.

While operating expenses improved by 14%, the net loss widened to $13.2 million from $8.4 million year-over-year. The cash position of $10.3 million is concerning given the current burn rate. The strategic divestment of Eton subsidiary and restructuring efforts aim to align costs with market conditions, but their effectiveness remains to be seen. The transition to Gibson SOLA as the primary commercial focus is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that investors should monitor closely.

Biotechnology Expert

Telesis Bio's pivot to the Gibson SOLA reagent platform is a strategic move in the competitive biotechnology landscape. This technology, enabling on-premises automated overnight synthesis of high-fidelity long DNA and mRNA, addresses a important need in therapeutic discovery. The positive reception at the PEGS conference suggests potential market interest.

However, the sharp revenue decline indicates challenges in commercialization. The ongoing Pfizer collaboration, leveraging the SOLA platform for potential mRNA-based vaccines, is a bright spot. Yet, the timing of milestone completions has impacted short-term financials. The company's focus on Gibson SOLA and the Pfizer collaboration represents a strategic bet on next-generation synthesis technology. Success hinges on rapid market adoption and achieving key milestones in the Pfizer partnership.

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telesis Bio Inc. (NASDAQ: TBIO), a leading provider of RNA and DNA solutions enabling researchers to accelerate therapeutic discovery through advanced, flexible, and rapid automated synthesis technology in their own lab, today announced financial results for the second quarter and first half of 2024.

Highlights

• Gibson SOLA – the Company continues to advance its Gibson SOLA reagent platform that enables on-premises automated overnight synthesis of high-fidelity long DNA and mRNA on a variety of liquid handling platforms. The Company’s presentation “Enhancing Therapeutic Protein Production with Gibson SOLA Enzymatic DNA Assembly: Pioneering on-Demand DNA and mRNA Synthesis for Biotechnological Innovation”, delivered in May at the 2024 PEGS conference in Boston was well received, and the Company continues to see growing interest in the market for adopting this platform.
• Eton Subsidiary – the Company made a strategic decision to divest its Eton subsidiary. As a result, Eton is reflected as a discontinued operation in the consolidated financial statements of the Company for all periods presented.
• Second Quarter, 2024 Restructuring – along with the action related to our Eton subsidiary noted above, in the second quarter of the year the Company undertook a variety of additional restructuring activities tied to further reducing its cost base across all areas of the business. The goal of this process was to align our cost structure to current market conditions and our focus on commercial adoption of Gibson SOLA. While these actions resulted in significant second quarter, 2024 non-recurring expenditures (described in the Summary of Financial Results that follows), the favorable impact on future quarters will be substantial relative to Company spending levels of recent years.
• CEO Transition – as previously reported on April 18, 2024, Eric Esser , President, and COO of Telesis Bio assumed the role of CEO and joined the Company’s Board of Directors. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Eric had successfully run Telesis Bio’s operations for approximately two years.
• Pfizer Collaboration - in other recent highlights, the Company continues to pursue activities under its strategic research collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer. This program is based upon Telesis’ proprietary SOLA platform which utilizes enzymatic DNA synthesis technology for potential application by Pfizer in mRNA-based vaccines and other biopharma products.
  

Summary of Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Revenue - Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2024 was $1.6 million compared to $7.0 million for the three months ended June 30, 2023 ($2.7 million and $8.7 million, respectively including revenue from Eton). The decrease was attributable to a reduction in product revenue of $1.8 million driven by our transition to Gibson SOLA as our primary commercial focus, and a decrease in collaboration revenue of $3.5 million, driven primarily by the timing of milestone completion under our strategic collaborations with Pfizer and reduction in deferred revenue recognition from up-front payments under that collaboration.

Gross Margin – The Company’s gross margin percentage was -52% for the three months ended June 30, 2024, compared to 71% for the same period in 2023. The unfavorable change in gross margin percentage was primarily driven by recognition of $1.8 million in one-time charges related to restructuring, and a decrease in high-margin collaboration revenue due to milestone timing. Absent the $1.8 million restructuring charge in the second quarter of 2024, gross margin would have been 64% for the quarter.

Operating Expense – Second quarter of 2024 operating expense of $10.7 million was $1.7 million or 14% improved from the prior year result of $12.4 million even with significant restructuring charges recorded during the current year period. Exclusive of employee severance and impairment charges tied to restructuring activity, the current year expense level of $10.7 million would have been $8.8 million representing a $3.7 million or 30% reduction from the prior year level of $12.4 million.

With respect to all restructuring charges noted above and posted in the second quarter of 2024, the favorable impact on future quarters will be substantial.     

Net loss was $13.2 million for the second quarter of 2024, compared to a loss of $8.4 million in the same period in the prior year. Net loss per share was $7.62 for the second quarter of 2024, compared to $5.10 for the corresponding prior year period.

As of June 30, 2024, cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and investments were $10.3 million, and notes payable was $5.3 million.

The Company will not be issuing additional forward-looking guidance at this time.

About Telesis Bio

Telesis Bio is empowering scientists with the ability to create novel, synthetic biology-enabled solutions for many of humanity’s greatest challenges. As inventors of the industry-standard Gibson Assembly® method and the first commercial automated benchtop DNA and mRNA synthesis system, Telesis Bio is enabling rapid, accurate and reproducible writing of DNA and mRNA for numerous downstream markets. Company products and technologies deliver virtually error-free synthesis of DNA and RNA at scale within days and hours instead of weeks or months. Scientists around the world are using the technology in their own laboratories to accelerate the design-build-test paradigm for novel, high-value products for precision medicine, biologics drug discovery, vaccine and therapeutic development, genome editing, and cell and gene therapy. Telesis Bio is a public company based in San Diego. For more information, visit www.telesisbio.com. Telesis Bio, the Telesis Bio logo, Gibson Assembly, and BioXp are trademarks of Telesis Bio Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include statements and guidance regarding Telesis Bio’s future financial performance as well as statements regarding the future release and success of new and existing products and services. Such statements are based on current assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. These risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, include risks described in the section entitled Risk Factors and elsewhere in our most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and should not be unduly relied upon. Telesis Bio disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Contact:
William J. Kullback
Chief Financial Officer
bill.kullback@telesisbio.com

Telesis Bio Inc. Selected Statements of Operations Financial Data (in thousands, except per share amounts) (unaudited)
	Three Months Ended  June 30,								Six Months Ended  June 30,
	2024				2023				2024				2023
Revenue:
Product sales	$	841			$	2,670			$	2,105			$	5,671
Service revenue		—				65				—				101
Collaboration revenue		—				3,462				—				4,424
Royalties and other revenue		709				807				1,634				1,486
Total revenue		1,550				7,004				3,739				11,682
Cost of revenue		2,349				2,039				3,431				3,934
Gross Profit		(799	)			4,965				308				7,748
Operating expenses:
Research and development		2,470				3,921				4,829				8,414
Sales and marketing		1,698				3,192				3,260				6,867
General and administrative		5,507				5,294				10,481				10,396
Impairment of property and equipment		1,017				—				1,017				—
Total operating expenses		10,692				12,407				19,587				25,677
Loss from operations		(11,491	)			(7,442	)			(19,279	)			(17,929	)
Interest income		160				374				388				764
Interest expense		(214	)			(707	)			(431	)			(1,346	)
Change in fair value of derivative liabilities		—				19				—				159
Other expense, net		(15	)			(3	)			(146	)			(39	)
Provision for income taxes		(1	)			(4	)			(3	)			(7	)
Loss from continuing operations		(11,561	)			(7,763	)			(19,471	)			(18,398	)
Loss from discontinuing operations		(1,024	)			(524	)			(1,751	)			(1,008	)
Net Loss	$	(12,585	)		$	(8,287	)		$	(21,222	)		$	(19,406	)
Less: redeemable convertible preferred stock dividends		(596	)			(153	)			(1,181	)			(153	)
Net loss attributable to common stockholders	$	(13,181	)		$	(8,440	)		$	(22,403	)		$	(19,559	)
Net loss per share from continuing operations attributable to common stockholders—basic and diluted	$	(7.03	)		$	(4.79	)		$	(12.14	)		$	(11.24	)
Net loss per share from discontinuing operations attributable to common stockholders—basic and diluted	$	(0.59	)		$	(0.32	)		$	(1.03	)		$	(0.61	)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders—basic and diluted	$	(7.62	)		$	(5.10	)		$	(13.17	)		$	(11.85	)
Weighted average common stock outstanding—basic and diluted		1,730,210				1,654,127				1,700,596				1,651,053

Telesis Bio Inc. Selected Balance Sheet Financial Data (in thousands) (unaudited)
	June 30,				December 31,
	2024				2023
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash, restricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments	$	10,314			$	19,333
Working capital		7,143				22,167
Total assets		52,727				70,411
Total liabilities		42,781				40,873
Redeemable convertible preferred stock		30,481				29,300
Accumulated deficit		(182,687	)			(161,465	)
Total stockholders’ (deficit) equity		(20,535	)			238

FAQ

What was Telesis Bio's (TBIO) revenue for Q2 2024?

Telesis Bio's revenue for Q2 2024 was $1.6 million, down from $7.0 million in Q2 2023.

How did Telesis Bio's (TBIO) gross margin change in Q2 2024?

Telesis Bio's gross margin decreased to -52% in Q2 2024 from 71% in Q2 2023, primarily due to restructuring charges.

What was Telesis Bio's (TBIO) net loss per share in Q2 2024?

Telesis Bio's net loss per share was $7.62 in Q2 2024, compared to $5.10 in Q2 2023.

What strategic actions did Telesis Bio (TBIO) take in Q2 2024?

Telesis Bio divested its Eton subsidiary, underwent restructuring to reduce costs, and continued advancing its Gibson SOLA reagent platform and Pfizer collaboration.