MaxCyte Inc (MXCT) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to MaxCyte Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Scott Feinberg, Finance, and Investor Relations Associate. Please go ahead.

女士們先生們，謝謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 MaxCyte 第二季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。我現在想將會議交給財務和投資者關係助理 Scott Feinberg。請繼續。

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Scott Feinberg and I am responsible for Investor Relations here at MaxCyte. Thank you for participating in today’s conference call. Joining me on the call from MaxCyte we have Maher Masoud, President, and Chief Executive Officer; and Doug Swirsky, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, MaxCyte released financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. A copy of the press release is available on the company’s website.

大家下午好。我叫 Scott Feinberg，負責 MaxCyte 的投資人關係。感謝您參加今天的電話會議。與我一起參加 MaxCyte 電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Maher Masoud；道格‧斯維爾斯基（Doug Swirsky），財務長。今天早些時候，MaxCyte 發布了截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的第二季財務業績。該新聞稿的副本可在該公司網站上取得。

Before we begin, I need to read the following statement. Statements or comments made during this call maybe forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Any statements contained in this call that relate to expectations or predictions of future events, results or performance are forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我需要閱讀以下聲明。本次電話會議期間所發表的聲明或評論可能是聯邦證券法意義內的前瞻性聲明。本次電話會議中包含的任何與對未來事件、結果或績效的預期或預測相關的陳述均為前瞻性陳述。

Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors which are discussed in detail in our SEC filings. The company has no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise.

由於我們在 SEC 文件中詳細討論的各種因素，實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。本公司沒有義務公開更新任何前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Maher.

接下來，我會將電話轉給馬赫。

Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining MaxCyte second quarter 2024 earnings call. MaxCyte reported $10.4 million of total revenue in the second quarter, including core revenue of $7.6 million and SPL Program-related revenue of $2.9 million.

謝謝你，斯科特。大家下午好，感謝您參加 MaxCyte 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。MaxCyte 報告第二季總收入為 1,040 萬美元，其中核心收入為 760 萬美元，與 SPL 計劃相關的收入為 290 萬美元。

We are excited with the progress that we have made so far in 2024, afforded by our commercial execution, the continued demand for our ExPERT Electroporation platform and the efforts we have made to continue to provide differentiated end-to-end support to our customers. We are also encouraged by the five new SPLs that we have signed this year, which includes the most recently signed Legend Biotech.

我們對2024 年迄今所取得的進展感到興奮，這得益於我們的商業執行、對ExPERT 電穿孔平台的持續需求以及我們為繼續為客戶提供差異化的端到端支援所做的努力。我們今年簽署的五份新的 SPL 也讓我們感到鼓舞，其中包括最近簽署的傳奇生物。

Our core business performance was solid in the second quarter with the results in cell therapy and drug discovery that were in line with our expectations. Our performance remains tied to the funding environment for cell therapy developers, which remained stable in the second quarter, but has not significantly changed or improved since the first quarter or the time at which we provided initial guidance for 2024.

第二季我們的核心業務表現穩健，細胞治療和藥物發現的結果符合我們的預期。我們的業績仍然與細胞療法開發商的融資環境相關，該環境在第二季度保持穩定，但自第一季或我們提供 2024 年初步指導時以來沒有顯著變化或改善。

Amidst this current backdrop, we continue to see our customers operate with a cautious capital spending mindset. Despite this, the overall market optimism in cell therapy and general scientific evolution in the space leaves us incredibly optimistic about MaxCyte’s long-term opportunities. We continue to believe cell therapy will change the paradigm in medicine over the years and we are in the early stages of the future growth of cell therapy.

在當前的背景下，我們繼續看到我們的客戶以謹慎的資本支出心態運作。儘管如此，細胞療法和該領域一般科學發展的整體市場樂觀情緒讓我們對 MaxCyte 的長期機會感到非常樂觀。我們仍然相信細胞療法將改變多年來的醫學範式，我們正處於細胞療法未來發展的早期階段。

The non-viral cell therapy market continues to move towards engineering approaches that involve more complex therapies across an expanding variety of cell and disease types. This bodes well for MaxCyte given that our technology can support the complexity of new cell therapies to be developed by current and prospective SPL customers in autologous and allogeneic settings. We remain in a strong position to meet our outlook for 2024, and are very optimistic about the future of our business and the cell therapy industry as a whole.

非病毒細胞治療市場繼續向工程方法發展，涉及涉及越來越多的細胞和疾病類型的更複雜的療法。這對 MaxCyte 來說是個好兆頭，因為我們的技術可以支持當前和潛在 SPL 客戶在自體和同種異體環境中開發的新細胞療法的複雜性。我們仍然有能力實現 2024 年的前景，並對我們業務和整個細胞治療行業的未來感到非常樂觀。

To provide some context on our core revenue performance in the second quarter, which Doug will cover in more detail, we grew our instrument installed base to 723 as of June 30. Instrument revenue continues to be impacted by customer caution on capital equipment purchases. However, we were pleased with PA revenue of $3 million and lease revenue of $2.6 million.

為了提供有關我們第二季核心收入表現的一些背景資訊（Doug 將更詳細地介紹這一點），截至 6 月 30 日，我們的儀器安裝基數已增至 723 台。客戶對固定設備採購的謹慎態度持續影響儀器收入。然而，我們對 300 萬美元的 PA 收入和 260 萬美元的租賃收入感到滿意。

Both declined slightly year-over-year, but remained stable from the first quarter of 2024. 51% of our core revenue in second quarter of 2024 was derived from SPL clients, speaking to contribution from both early stage customers and customers in the clinic.

兩者均同比略有下降，但與 2024 年第一季相比保持穩定。

As I mentioned before, we reported $2.9 million of SPL Program-related revenue in the second quarter, putting us at $6 million in the first half of the year. We are encouraged by SPL clients’ continued progress through the clinic, resulting in milestone revenue for MaxCyte.

正如我之前提到的，我們第二季報告的 SPL 計畫相關收入為 290 萬美元，上半年的收入為 600 萬美元。我們受到 SPL 客戶的鼓舞——診所的持續進展，為 MaxCyte 帶來了里程碑式的收入。

We are also continuing to expand our SPL portfolio as evidenced by two new SPLs signed in the second quarter, BE Biopharma and Legend Biotech, bringing our total signed SPLs so far in 2024 to five.

我們還在繼續擴大我們的 SPL 產品組合，第二季度簽署的兩項新 SPL（BE Biopharma 和 Legend Biotech）就是證明，使我們 2024 年迄今為止簽署的 SPL 總數達到 5 個。

Our most recently signed SPL that we announced in May, Legend Biotech, is a global leader in the cell therapy industry, developing new cell therapies to target life-threatening diseases. They currently have one commercial asset and eight pipeline programs, with revenue from marketed products, partnerships, and licensing.

我們在 5 月宣布的最近簽署的 SPL 是傳奇生物科技 (Legend Biotech)，它是細胞治療行業的全球領導者，致力於開發新的細胞療法來針對危及生命的疾病。他們目前擁有一項商業資產和八個管道項目，收入來自銷售產品、合作夥伴關係和許可。

MaxCyte’s platform provides Legend Biotech with technical, scientific, and regulatory expertise to support the development of the company’s therapies across a variety of cell types and modalities. The addition of Legend Biotech brings our total number of signed SPLs in our portfolio to 28. It is important to remember, these SPL relationships provide us with the opportunity to participate in the success of our customers’ programs.

MaxCyte 的平台為傳奇生物科技提供了技術、科學和監管專業知識，以支持該公司跨多種細胞類型和模式的療法的開發。Legend Biotech 的加入使我們投資組合中已簽署的 SPL 總數達到 28 個。請務必記住，這些 SPL 關係為我們提供了參與客戶計畫成功的機會。

With unparalleled access to our electroporation technology, trained field sales and application scientist support and our FDA Master File and regulatory know-how, we firmly believe that MaxCyte remains the platform-of-choice within our industry. We have strong relationships with our current SPL clients and a robust pipeline of prospective SPL clients, all of which are working vigorously to develop innovative cell and gene therapies for patients in need.

憑藉無與倫比的電穿孔技術、訓練有素的現場銷售和應用科學家支援以及 FDA 主文件和監管知識，我們堅信 MaxCyte 仍然是我們行業內的首選平台。我們與目前的 SPL 客戶有著牢固的關係，並且擁有強大的潛在 SPL 客戶管道，所有這些客戶都在積極努力為有需要的患者開發創新的細胞和基因療法。

As you likely know, MaxCyte supported its SPL customer, Vertex, in the FDA approval of CASGEVY, the first non-viral cell therapy approved in the US. Now, midway through 2024, we are confident that commercial opportunity for CASGEVY remains strong. With approval in the United States, Great Britain, European Union, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, CASGEVY has the capability to enable life-changing treatment to patients worldwide.

您可能知道，MaxCyte 支持其 SPL 客戶 Vertex 獲得 FDA 批准 CASGEVY，這是美國批准的第一個非病毒細胞療法。現在，到 2024 年中期，我們相信 CASGEVY 的商業機會仍然強勁。經美國、英國、歐盟、沙烏地阿拉伯和巴林批准，CASGEVY 有能力為全世界患者提供改變生活的治療。

We are encouraged by the recently presented long-term data for CASGEVY from global clinical trials for over 100 patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. The efficacy demonstrated consistency with primary and secondary endpoints from prior XSL studies.

最近公佈的 CASGEVY 長期數據令我們感到鼓舞，這些數據來自對 100 多名輸血依賴性β-地中海貧血患者進行的全球臨床試驗。此功效與先前 XSL 研究的主要和次要終點一致。

Vertex recently reported they continue to see a growing number of patients begin the treatment journey and approximately 20 patients have already had cells collected, with patients initiating the treatment journey in every region where CASGEVY is approved, the US, Europe, and the Middle East. There are now 35 activated centers and Vertex continues to expect to activate approximately 75 total centers globally, with the view that CASGEVY represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity.

Vertex 最近報告稱，他們繼續看到越來越多的患者開始治療之旅，大約20 名患者已經收集了細胞，在CASGEVY 批准的每個地區（美國、歐洲和中東），患者都開始了治療之旅。目前已啟動 35 個中心，福泰 (Vertex) 預計將在全球啟動約 75 個中心，並認為 CASGEVY 代表著一個價值數十億美元的機會。

Currently and as previously communicated, we do not have visibility into the timing of patient dosing or completion of infusion, given the lengthy process associated once patient enrollment begins. As such, we continue to exclude CASGEVY-related commercial milestone revenue from our 2024 outlook and plan to provide you with updates as they come from Vertex. We remain very excited by the potential of CASGEVY to benefit patients as the first and only approved CRISPR gene editing therapy.

目前，正如先前所傳達的，鑑於患者入組開始後相關的漫長過程，我們無法了解患者給藥或完成輸注的時間。因此，我們繼續將 CASGEVY 相關的商業里程碑收入排除在 2024 年展望之外，並計劃向您提供來自 Vertex 的更新。我們對 CASGEVY 作為第一個也是唯一一個獲得批准的 CRISPR 基因編輯療法為患者造福的潛力感到非常興奮。

Over the near, medium, and long-term, we see significant revenue opportunity from our SPL clients as they progress through the clinic and reach commercialization. The next wave of potential commercial opportunities includes approximately five programs across five SPLs, with launch potential in 2027.

從近期、中期和長期來看，隨著 SPL 客戶在臨床階段的進展並實現商業化，我們看到了巨大的收入機會。下一波潛在商業機會包括跨越 5 個 SPL 的大約 5 個項目，預計在 2027 年推出。

These therapies have the potential to address solid tumors, lymphoma, leukemia, sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Beyond this, we see opportunity for 10 approved programs across additional indications of multiple myeloma and autoimmune disease between 2028 and 2030. As we continue to sign new SPLs and our existing SPLs grow and expand, the basket of commercial opportunities in the future grows larger.

這些療法有可能治療實體腫瘤、淋巴瘤、白血病、鐮狀細胞疾病和β-地中海貧血。除此之外，我們還看到了 2028 年至 2030 年間針對多發性骨髓瘤和自體免疫疾病其他適應症的 10 個核准項目的機會。隨著我們不斷簽署新的 SPL 以及我們現有的 SPL 的成長和擴大，未來的商業機會將會變得越來越大。

For the remainder of 2024, we’ll remain focused on investing in areas of high growth that align with MaxCyte’s core competency, advancing cell therapy innovations. Over the first half of this year, we have reviewed our portfolio of opportunities and investments and reallocated resources towards high impact projects that promise the best return on investment and long-term growth.

在 2024 年剩餘時間內，我們將繼續專注於投資與 MaxCyte 核心能力相符的高成長領域，並推進細胞治療創新。今年上半年，我們審查了我們的機會和投資組合，並將資源重新分配給高影響力項目，這些項目有望帶來最佳投資回報和長期成長。

Commensurate with our realignment we are reducing our investment in and moderating our expectations for the VLX. We will maximize investments previously made in the VLX, continuing to work with early adopters and future customers. Our portfolio realignment focuses on prioritizing operational efficiencies and sales and marketing reach in cell therapy, which continues to be a large and sustainable growth opportunity for MaxCyte.

與我們的調整相適應，我們正在減少對 VLX 的投資並降低對 VLX 的期望。我們將最大限度地利用先前在 VLX 上的投資，並繼續與早期採用者和未來客戶合作。我們的產品組合調整重點是優先考慮細胞療法的營運效率以及銷售和行銷範圍，這仍然是 MaxCyte 的一個巨大且可持續的成長機會。

To wrap up, we are pleased with our solid second quarter results and believe that we remain on track to deliver on our goals for 2024. MaxCyte’s value proposition and the support that we provide to our customers and clients is truly differentiated and I continue to believe that we are the premier cell engineering platform-of-choice within the cell and gene therapy industry.

總而言之，我們對第二季的穩健業績感到滿意，並相信我們仍有望實現 2024 年的目標。MaxCyte 的價值主張以及我們為客戶提供的支援確實與眾不同，我仍然相信我們是細胞和基因治療行業首選的首選細胞工程平台。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Doug to discuss our financial results. Doug?

現在，我將把電話轉給道格，討論我們的財務表現。道格？

Thank you, Maher. Total revenue in the second quarter of 2024 was $10.4 million compared to $9 million in the second quarter of 2023, representing an increase of 15%. We reported core revenue of $7.6 million compared to $8.3 million in the comparable prior year quarter, representing a decline of 9%.

謝謝你，馬赫。2024 年第二季的總營收為 1,040 萬美元，較 2023 年第二季的 900 萬美元成長 15%。我們公佈的核心收入為 760 萬美元，而去年同期核心收入為 830 萬美元，下降了 9%。

This includes revenue from cell therapy customers of $6.2 million, which declined 6% year-over-year, and revenue from drug discovery customers of $1.4 million, which declined 18% year-over-year. Within core revenue, instrument revenue was $1.8 million compared to $2.1 million in the second quarter of 2023.

其中包括細胞治療客戶的收入 620 萬美元，年減 6%，以及來自藥物發現客戶的收入 140 萬美元，年減 18%。在核心收入中，儀器收入為 180 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 210 萬美元。

Lease revenue was $2.6 million compared to $2.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, and processing assembly or PA revenue was $3 million compared to $3.3 million in the comparable prior year quarter. As Maher mentioned, instrument revenue continues to be most impacted by the cautious capital spending environment for our customers.

租賃收入為 260 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 270 萬美元，加工組裝或 PA 收入為 300 萬美元，而去年同期為 330 萬美元。正如馬赫所提到的，儀器收入仍然受到客戶謹慎的資本支出環境的最大影響。

At the same time, lease revenue has remained stable, indicating strength in our revenue from clinical SPL partners. PA revenue remained solid in both year-over-year and sequential performance, which we were pleased to see. We recognized $2.9 million of SPL Program-related revenue in the second quarter of 2024 compared to $0.8 million of SPL Program-related revenue in the second quarter of 2023. Year-to-date, we have achieved $6 million in SPL Program-related revenue.

同時，租賃收入保持穩定，顯示我們來自臨床 SPL 合作夥伴的收入強勁。PA 收入的同比和環比表現都保持穩健，我們很高興看到這一點。我們在 2024 年第二季確認了 290 萬美元的 SPL 計畫相關收入，而 2023 年第二季的 SPL 計畫相關收入為 80 萬美元。今年迄今為止，我們已實現 SPL 計劃相關收入 600 萬美元。

Moving down the P&L, gross margin was 86% in the second quarter of 2024, slightly higher than 85% in the second quarter of 2023. Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2024 were $20.9 million compared to $20.7 million in the second quarter of 2023.

從損益表來看，2024 年第二季的毛利率為 86%，略高於 2023 年第二季的 85%。2024 年第二季的總營運費用為 2,090 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 2,070 萬美元。

The overall increase in operating expenses was primarily driven by growth in sales and marketing expenses. Going forward, the company continues to be disciplined, making moderate and targeted investments in high growth areas that offer long-term returns.

營業費用的整體成長主要是由銷售和行銷費用的成長所推動的。展望未來，公司將持續嚴守紀律，在可提供長期回報的高成長領域進行適度、有針對性的投資。

We finished the second quarter with combined total cash, cash equivalents and investments of $199.8 million and no debt. We are increasing our expectations for year-end cash equivalents and investments and now expect to end the year with $180 million, up from our previous estimate of $175 million.

第二季結束時，我們的現金、現金等價物和投資總額為 1.998 億美元，沒有債務。我們正在提高對年終現金等價物和投資的預期，目前預計年底現金等價物和投資將達到 1.8 億美元，高於我們先前估計的 1.75 億美元。

This is a result of greater than expected SPL Program-related revenue in the first half of 2024 as well as disciplined expense management, including the realignment of resources that Maher discussed. Continuing with our full year 2024 revenue guidance, we are reiterating our core revenue guidance and updating our SPL Program-related revenue outlook.

這是 2024 年上半年 SPL 計劃相關收入高於預期以及嚴格的費用管理（包括 Maher 討論的資源重新調整）的結果。繼續我們的 2024 年全年收入指引，我們重申我們的核心收入指引並更新我們與 SPL 計劃相關的收入前景。

We continue to expect core revenue to be flat to 5% growth compared to 2023. We now expect SPL Program-related revenue to be approximately $6 million in 2024. Our SPL Program-related revenue is difficult to predict and subject to the timing of partner development programs. Our base case expectation for the year indicates we will not receive additional milestones in 2024. As a reminder, our 2024 outlook also does not include royalty revenue from CASGEVY.

我們繼續預期核心收入與 2023 年相比將成長 5%。我們現在預計 2024 年 SPL 計畫相關收入約為 600 萬美元。我們與 SPL 計劃相關的收入很難預測，並且受合作夥伴開發計劃時間表的影響。我們對今年的基本情況預期表明，我們在 2024 年不會獲得額外的里程碑。提醒一下，我們的 2024 年展望也不包括 CASGEVY 的特許權使用費收入。

To close, MaxCyte remains in a great position to execute on our 2024 outlook with a continued focus on exercising disciplined spend to deliver long-term growth.

最後，MaxCyte 仍處於執行我們 2024 年展望的有利位置，並繼續專注於嚴格支出以實現長期成長。

Now, I’ll turn the call back over to Maher.

現在，我將把電話轉回給馬赫。

Thank you, Doug. We are proud of our progress thus far in 2024 and look forward to supporting our customers as they progress through the clinic. I would like to thank our MaxCyte team for their dedicated work to our company and customers each and every day.

謝謝你，道格。我們對 2024 年迄今的進展感到自豪，並期待為我們的客戶在臨床中取得進展提供支援。我要感謝我們的 MaxCyte 團隊每天為我們公司和客戶所做的奉獻工作。

With that, I will turn the call back over to the operator for the Q&A. Operator?

這樣，我會將電話轉回接線生進行問答。操作員？

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Jacob Johnson, Stephens.

謝謝。（操作員說明）Jacob Johnson，Stephens。

Hi, it’s actually Hannah on for Jacob. Thanks for taking my questions. Have you seen any benefit from commercial volumes on the PA or leased revenue, lease instrument side of things?

嗨，實際上是漢娜代替雅各。感謝您回答我的問題。您是否看到了 PA 或租賃收入、租賃儀器方面的商業量帶來的任何好處？

Hannah, this is Maher.

漢娜，這是馬赫。

I’m sorry.

對不起。

Yes. I apologize. Can you repeat the question again? It broke up there for a second.

是的。我道歉。你能再重複一次這個問題嗎？它在那裡破裂了一秒鐘。

Yes. As it relates to the base business, have you seen any benefit from commercial volumes on the PA or leased instrument side of things?

是的。由於它與基礎業務相關，您是否看到 PA 或租賃儀器方面的商業量帶來任何好處？

So, you’re asking about whether or not CASGEVY is having a material impact on our core revenue?

那麼，您想問 CASGEVY 是否對我們的核心收入產生重大影響？

Yes.

是的。

Yes. So, we don’t break that out separately. I think they keep in mind that the components that we get from participating in the commercialization of that product do include potentially incremental lease revenue, do include, obviously, the PAs that are used in a commercial setting. We do not really break that up.

是的。因此，我們不會單獨解決這個問題。我認為他們記住，我們從參與該產品的商業化中獲得的組件確實包括潛在的增量租賃收入，顯然也包括在商業環境中使用的 PA。我們並沒有真正打破這一點。

The best I can direct you to is sort of customer concentration information that’s in the 10-Q. But unfortunately, we’re really not in a position for a variety of reasons, including maintaining confidentiality since we only have one commercial stage partner at this point to break it out, talk about how many PAs we’re using, the commercial settings is probably not something that we are going to do at this point.

我最多可以引導您了解 10-Q 中的客戶集中度資訊。但不幸的是，由於多種原因，我們確實無法做到這一點，包括保密，因為我們目前只有一個商業階段合作夥伴來透露這一點，談論我們正在使用多少 PA，商業階段設定可能不是我們此時要做的事情。

Okay, thanks. And then one more follow-up. It looks like cell therapy and drug discovery both declined a little bit sequentially. Was this just seasonality? Is there anything else you would call out about that?

好的，謝謝。然後還有一個後續行動。看起來細胞療法和藥物發現都連續下降了一點。這只是季節性嗎？對此您還有什麼想說的嗎？

Do you want me to take that one Doug? Let me take that one, Hannah. So, obviously, it declined year-over-year. But over the course of the year, it’s been very consistent. So, from Q1 to Q2, very consistent sales for both in drug discovery and cell therapy.

你想讓我帶那個道格嗎？讓我來拿那個吧，漢娜。因此，很明顯，它同比下降。但一年來，情況非常穩定。因此，從第一季到第二季度，藥物發現和細胞治療領域的銷售額非常穩定。

Drug discovery itself is a smaller revenue line for us. It’s tied more a bit to a few customers that we might have some lumpiness with a few customers putting orders in certain quarters versus other quarters. But overall, we’re very happy with the solid quarter that we have, consistent with our Q1 as well and not really comparing it to Q2 of last year, which is a bit of an abnormality.

藥物發現本身對我們來說是一個較小的收入來源。它與少數客戶的關係更大，因此我們可能會因為少數客戶在某些季度與其他季度下訂單而出現一些混亂。但總的來說，我們對季度的穩健表現感到非常滿意，這與第一季的情況一致，而不是與去年的第二季進行比較，這有點反常。

I think the one thing that we tried to make a point of earlier this year is we talked about sort of a lack of seasonality in our business going forward. We are going to see occasional lumpiness. That’s just the nature of the business. You occasionally see customers put in a big order and influence things. But, in general, we feel pleased where we are at this point with -- on both drug discovery and cell therapy.

我認為我們今年早些時候試圖強調的一件事是我們談論了未來業務缺乏季節性的問題。我們偶爾會看到塊狀現象。這就是業務的本質。您偶爾會看到客戶下了大訂單並影響事情。但總的來說，我們對目前在藥物發現和細胞治療方面的進展感到滿意。

Alright, thanks. I’ll leave it there.

好的，謝謝。我會把它留在那裡。

Thank you, Hannah.

謝謝你，漢娜。

Julie Simmonds, Panmure Liberum.

朱莉‧西蒙茲，《潘穆爾‧自由》。

Hi. Thanks very much for taking the question. A couple of things. Firstly just in terms of SPL agreements clearly you did five last year. You’ve done five this year already. I notice no more guidance on what you might do for the rest of this year. Are we really going to have to wait more than six-months for another one?

你好。非常感謝您提出問題。有幾件事。首先，就 SPL 協議而言，顯然去年你們做了五項。今年您已經完成了五次。我注意到沒有更多關於你今年剩餘時間可以做什麼的指導。我們真的要等六個月以上才能再收到一張嗎？

Good question, Julie. Good to hear from you again. Obviously, three to five has been historically what we feel comfortable we can sign on a regular basis. The sales cycle for signing an SPL can take anywhere from 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months. Right. A little bit longer sometimes depending on the relationship. We don’t speak to when those can happen.

好問題，朱莉。很高興再次收到你的來信。顯然，從歷史上看，我們可以定期簽下三到五名球員。簽署 SPL 的銷售週期可能需要 3 個月、6 個月、9 個月、12 個月。正確的。有時會長一點，取決於關係。我們不談論這些何時會發生。

Obviously, if there’s another one that happens, we have to update then we now have 6. We can’t comment until the SPL is signed, but I will say this, we have a healthy SPL funnel, healthy opportunity of SPL customers that will sign over the years.

顯然，如果發生另一種情況，我們必須更新，那麼我們現在有 6 個。在簽署 SPL 之前我們無法發表評論，但我要說的是，我們擁有健康的 SPL 漏斗，以及未來幾年將簽署的 SPL 客戶的健康機會。

Our focus is more on just ensuring that we’re signing those 3 to 5 on a regular basis and not necessarily the timing of whether it happens over the next 6 months or a few months thereafter. So, I guess, that’s a long way, Julie, of saying we can’t promise this year, but we have a healthy 3 to 5 on a regular basis that we feel very confident in, especially on the funnel that we have and the opportunity list that we have that we can continue to grow our SPLs from 28 to a much larger amount over the years to come.

我們的重點更在於確保我們定期簽署這 3 到 5 份協議，而不一定是在接下來的 6 個月或之後的幾個月內簽署。所以，我想，朱莉，說我們今年不能做出承諾，這是一個很長的路要走，但我們定期有一個健康的3 到5 個，我們對此非常有信心，特別是在我們的漏斗上我們擁有的機會清單表明我們可以在未來幾年繼續將 SPL 從 28 增加到更大的數量。

Thank you. Didn’t think you’d say anything, but I had to try. Then just on the gross margin, if you look at that on a core business basis it’s still a little bit lower than where it’s been historically. Is that because you’re now doing the manufacturing in-house and you’ve yet to get the volumes up to the point where it sort of starts to rebalance a little bit or should we be looking at this sort of level going forwards?

謝謝。沒想到你會說什麼，但我必須嘗試。然後，就毛利率而言，如果你從核心業務的角度來看，它仍然比歷史水平低一些。這是因為你們現在正在內部進行製造，而你們的產量還沒有達到開始重新平衡的程度，還是我們應該考慮未來的這種水平？

That’s certainly a big part of it Julie. So, what we’ve established here is a manufacturing facility that can support multiple commercial stage customers. And so with that much capacity ready to go to support, our customer base, we do have some excess capacity. It does change some of the absorption rates. It does impact our margins to have that. We also were manufacturing quite a bit last year.

這當然是朱莉的重要組成部分。因此，我們在這裡建立的是一個可以支援多個商業階段客戶的製造工廠。因此，有了這麼多產能來支持我們的客戶群，我們確實有一些過剩產能。它確實改變了一些吸收率。這樣做確實會影響我們的利潤。去年我們也進行了大量生產。

And so, as with the – I guess, down year we had last year, we definitely had manufactured more than we need. We want to make sure that we maintain appropriate levels of inventory. And so, I think, we – these are margins that have the potential to go back to where they are.

因此，正如我猜想的那樣，去年我們的產量下降了，我們的產量肯定超過了我們的需要。我們希望確保維持適當的庫存水準。因此，我認為，我們的利潤率有可能回到原來的水準。

But, again, we’ve said it before, we feel really good about the margins we’re delivering even as they back down to this level because they’re still very substantial and somewhat industry-leading at this point and continue to be so.

但是，我們之前已經說過，我們對我們提供的利潤率感到非常滿意，即使它們回落到這個水平，因為它們目前仍然非常可觀，並且在某種程度上處於行業領先地位，並且繼續如此。

Can I add something there as well, Doug. So Julie, when we brought in manufacturing in-house, we knew that we could potentially take a short-term hit on margins. But that was a positive in our view because we can start controlling the quality and the capacity of how much we can produce on an annual basis.

我也可以加一些東西嗎，道格。因此，朱莉，當我們引入內部製造時，我們知道我們的利潤率可能會受到短期打擊。但我們認為這是積極的，因為我們可以開始控製品質和每年的生產能力。

So, in our mind, the short-term hit that we’re taking is well worth the long-term benefit that we’re getting out of bringing manufacturing in-house both for us and then also for our customers and partners that we support, especially as our customers get through the clinic, go through pivotal stages and they get the commercialization that quality and capacity that we’re going to have in-house will be crucial for our success as well.

因此，在我們看來，我們所承受的短期打擊是值得的，因為我們透過內部製造而獲得的長期利益不僅對我們自己，也對我們的客戶和合作夥伴來說是值得的。是當我們的客戶透過診所、經歷關鍵階段並實現商業化時，我們內部擁有的品質和能力對我們的成功也至關重要。

Excellent. Thank you. And just one final one from me. On the VLX, where you’re sort of clearly pulling back a little bit from some of the additional spending that was going there, is it going to be sort of that all comes off the cost line because I noticed there is a slightly lower expenses than maybe we’ve seen in the previous quarter?

出色的。謝謝。最後一張是我寫的。在 VLX 上，你明顯地從一些額外支出中撤回了一點，這是否會全部脫離成本線，因為我注意到有一個稍微低一些的支出可能比我們上一季度看到的要高？

I’m just wondering, whether that continues or whether there’s a sort of reallocation back to the more sort of traditional cell therapy spend?

我只是想知道，這種情況是否會繼續下去，或者是否會重新分配回傳統的細胞治療支出？

Yes. Obviously, we’re always – and I’ll let Doug to speak to this as well. We’re always looking at our expenses and looking where we can reallocate, where we believe that we have the most growth potential right now that is in cell therapy. Julie, we see that as a long sustainable business for us.

是的。顯然，我們總是——而且我也會讓道格來談論這一點。我們一直在關注我們的開支，尋找可以重新分配的地方，我們相信目前細胞治療領域最具成長潛力。朱莉，我們認為這對我們來說是一項長期可持續的業務。

Obviously, the minimization of spend, the VLX, let me speak to the VLX itself a bit more there as well. So, the VLX does have a use case study, a very good use case study for us as cell therapy market grows and allogeneic therapies become – have more of a stay in the market.

顯然，VLX 的支出最小化，讓我也多談談 VLX 本身。因此，VLX 確實有一個用例研究，隨著細胞治療市場的成長和同種異體療法在市場上佔據更多地位，對我們來說這是一個非常好的用例研究。

The scale and the transfection that we can provide with the VLX is unmatched by anything else currently out in terms of transfection in electroporation platforms. So, for us, it’s refocusing the VLX as to where the use case is best there.

我們可以使用 VLX 提供的規模和轉染是目前電穿孔平台轉染方面任何其他產品都無法比擬的。因此，對我們來說，VLX 正在重新關注最適合的用例。

We’re continuing to work with the VLX in the bioprocessing space with those early adopters and future customers where there is a need for the scale that it provides for transient protein production. But we’ve minimized spend there because, obviously there’s not a need for us to continue to spend as much as we have in the past to support those early customers or future customers.

我們將繼續在生物加工領域與 VLX 合作，與那些需要 VLX 提供瞬時蛋白質生產規模的早期採用者和未來客戶合作。但我們已經最大限度地減少了這方面的支出，因為顯然我們不需要繼續像過去那樣花費大量資金來支持那些早期客戶或未來客戶。

But to your point, we’re always going to be looking at allocation of our spend ensuring that we’re focusing our spend where we can have the greatest return on investment and where we believe that we have the greatest future growth potential. What that means for the bottom line, I’ll let Doug speak to that.

但就您的觀點而言，我們始終會考慮支出分配，確保我們將支出集中在能夠獲得最大投資回​​報以及我們認為具有最大未來成長潛力的地方。這對底線意味著什麼，我會讓道格來談談。

Yes. I mean, I think Maher said it perfectly. The only thing I’d add is just to emphasize what we’ve already said here, which is that we’ve raised our expectations for how much cash equivalents and investments we’ll end the year with just to reflect the fact that, again, we’ve had some unexpected milestone revenue come in that we talked about in previous call as well as the fact that we’re being more prudent with our expenditures, both in terms of VLX and reprioritizing some of that spending, but in other areas as well.

是的。我的意思是，我認為馬赫說得很完美。我唯一要補充的是強調我們已經在這裡說過的話，即我們提高了對年底現金等價物和投資的預期，以反映事實上，我們再次獲得了一些意想不到的里程碑收入，我們在之前的電話會議中談到過，而且我們對支出更加謹慎，無論是在VLX 方面還是在重新調整其中一些支出的優先順序方面支出，但也包括其他領域。

Lovely. Thank you very much.

迷人的。非常感謝。

Thank you, Julie.

謝謝你，朱莉。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Steven Mah, TD Cowen.

史蒂文·馬，TD·考恩。

Great. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe just a couple of follow-up questions on SPLs. So notice that the five SPLs signed this year or – tend to be on the kind of the mid to smaller size companies. Maybe if you could give us a little bit of color on how BD discussions with larger players are going and maybe any color on how maybe BD discussions are evolving between maybe smaller companies, mid-sized companies, and larger companies, and maybe your thoughts on how that mix might change.

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。也許只是關於 SPL 的幾個後續問題。因此請注意，今年簽署的 5 份 SPL 往往是中小型公司。也許您能給我們一些關於與大型企業的 BD 討論如何進行的信息，或者關於 BD 討論在小型公司、中型公司和大型公司之間如何演變的任何信息，也許您對這種混合可能會如何改變。

Good questions, Steven. Let me speak to that a little bit, give you some color in the sense, obviously, Legend is a bigger company there that is not – a bigger company that we’ve signed. And really, they’ve taken their non – they’re taking a non-viral approach based on what traditionally they were pursuing, viral approaches to cell therapies.

好問題，史蒂文。讓我稍微談談這一點，從某種意義上給你一些色彩，顯然，傳奇是一家更大的公司，而不是「我們簽署的一家更大的公司」。事實上，他們已經採取了非性——他們正在採取一種基於他們傳統上追求的病毒細胞療法的非病毒方法。

That being said, our focus is really not so much on whether we’re working with smaller companies or bigger companies. It’s really – it’s ensuring that we’re that company that, and we’ll say it again, we’re working with as many cell therapy companies as we can, whether they’re small or big. I want to bring you back to kind of, we worked with what was considered a small company back in 2013. It was called Inception Therapeutics.

話雖這麼說，我們的重點其實並不在於我們是與小公司還是大公司合作。確實，我們正在與盡可能多的細胞治療公司合作，無論他們是不是，這確實是為了確保我們是這樣的公司，而且我們會再說一遍。我想讓你們回到 2013 年我們與一家被認為是小公司的公司合作的情況。它被稱為 Inception Therapeutics。

And that company is CRISPR now. So, if we had tried to select which company is a big company or a small company, we would not be working with CRISPR Therapeutics, which is now – which licensed their product to Vertex, which is now CASGEVY right, which is the first non-viral cell therapy approved.

那家公司現在就是 CRISPR。因此，如果我們試圖選擇哪家公司是大公司還是小公司，我們就不會與 CRISPR Therapeutics 合作，該公司現在將其產品授權給 Vertex，現在是 CASGEVY，這是第一個非病毒細胞療法獲得批准。

So, our focus is really small, medium, big, it’s all of them that we’re trying to go after. The cell therapy space is going to continue to grow. I think what is a small company now can become a big company, and where the program now for a small company can become part of a bigger company as well. We want to make sure we’re working with all of them, Steve, that’s our goal.

所以，我們的焦點確實是小、中、大，我們都在努力追求。細胞治療領域將持續成長。我認為現在的小公司可以成為大公司，而現在小公司的專案也可以成為大公司的一部分。我們希望確保與他們所有人合作，史蒂夫，這是我們的目標。

Yes. That makes sense, I appreciate the color.

是的。這是有道理的，我很欣賞這個顏色。

Yes. I was going to add Steve this is a portfolio. We’re just trying to build a portfolio of really a good client roster that’s using the platform in a clinical setting with potential to generate development milestones and ultimately commercialize a product and we’re spreading our bets, if you will, and selling to all companies that we believe are quality companies in this space. Some of them won’t succeed and we want to support as many of them as possible, so that many of them can.

是的。我想補充史蒂夫，這是一個作品集。我們只是試圖建立一個真正優秀的客戶名冊組合，在臨床環境中使用該平台，有潛力產生開發里程碑並最終將產品商業化，如果您願意，我們正在分散我們的賭注，並向我們認為是該領域優質公司的所有公司銷售。其中一些不會成功，我們希望支持盡可能多的人，以便他們中的許多人能夠成功。

Yes. Understood. And then if I can squeeze one more in, maybe on your instrument side of your business, could you give us some color on what you’re seeing in the marketplace? It sounds like maybe sales cycles are lengthening or taking longer.

是的。明白了。然後，如果我可以再擠進一個，也許是在您業務的儀器方面，您能給我們一些關於您在市場上看到的情況的信息嗎？聽起來銷售週期可能正在延長或需要更長的時間。

Maybe if you could provide some color on how things are looking from the instrument side, given that some companies in the cell and gene therapy and bioprocessing stated there is some signs of some green shoots or improvements, maybe kind of square away what others are saying with kind of what you’re seeing in marketplace.

也許你可以提供一些關於儀器方面的情況的信息，考慮到細胞和基因治療和生物加工領域的一些公司表示存在一些萌芽或改進的跡象，也許可以與其他人所說的相悖與您在市場上看到的類似。

And if you could add also perspective from maybe larger size customers versus early stage customers, how those discussions on instrument sales or leasing are going? Thank you.

如果您也可以加入較大規模客戶與早期客戶的觀點，那麼有關儀器銷售或租賃的討論進度如何？謝謝。

Thank you, Steve. So, with regards to instruments, clearly to break out the difference between the larger companies and the smaller companies, a lot of the capital that’s flow – that’s come into the industry has been more focused on the larger companies, been more focused on the public companies. So, certainly some of these sales cycles have elongated.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。因此，就工具而言，顯然為了打破大公司和小公司之間的差異，進入該行業的大量資本更集中於規模較大的公司。因此，其中一些銷售週期肯定已經延長。

And so, I think there is a difference there. For us, instrumentation is one area where we’re able to really build that forecast from the ground up. This is sort of opportunity-by-opportunity that we’re tracking closely through our system as we work with the commercial team, both the sales team and the FASs to really understand which of these have the best likelihood of converting, what’s the probability. We’ve really tightened up our forecasting.

所以，我認為這是有區別的。對我們來說，儀器儀表是我們能夠真正從頭開始建立預測的領域。這是一種逐一機會的方式，我們在與商業團隊、銷售團隊和 FAS 合作時，透過我們的系統密切跟踪，以真正了解哪些機會最有可能實現轉化，什麼是——是機率。我們確實加強了預測。

That’s why today, we’re very comfortable that we’re going to be able to – unless something changes, to reach the objectives we set for ourselves, which is that zero to up 5% guidance on core revenue. So, we feel good about where we stand today. There is some occasional lumpiness. We saw like a big second quarter last year in terms of total core revenue, but this year, we’re not seeing that lumpiness. We are on track to meet our goals. Maher, want to add anything here?

這就是為什麼今天，我們非常放心，除非發生什麼變化，否則我們將能夠實現我們為自己設定的目標，即核心業務的零至 5% 指導收入。因此，我們對今天的處境感到滿意。偶爾會有一些結塊。就核心總收入而言，去年第二季我們看到了巨大的成長，但今年，我們沒有看到這種波動。我們正在實現我們的目標。馬赫，想在這裡添加什麼嗎？

So, I think one thing to add is Steve, so we’re 1-month into the third quarter and we still feel very confident in terms of what we guided previously in the year. Again, this is – we’re seeing consistent performance throughout the year.

因此，我認為需要補充的一件事是史蒂夫，所以我們第三季已經過去一個月了，我們仍然對今年之前的指導非常有信心。同樣，我們全年都看到了一致的表現。

We’re seeing it one month into the third quarter as well. We feel very confident in what we previously guided to. And as Doug mentioned, we’re doing this on an opportunity-by-opportunity basis, where we’ve taken a new and fresh look in terms of how we forecast and we look at the opportunity. So, we feel very confident in the rest of the year, Steve.

我們在第三季一個月後也看到了這個情況。我們對之前的指導非常有信心。正如道格所提到的，我們是在逐個機會的基礎上開展這項工作的，我們對預測和看待機會的方式採取了全新的態度。所以，我們對今年剩下的時間非常有信心，史蒂夫。

Yes. And just one thing we do want to say is our guidance continues to not be based on some type of improvement in the overall market conditions that we’re living through right now. So, that represents some upside if things if those green sheets do manifest. But we’re feeling good for where we are at this point in the year.

是的。我們確實想說的一件事是，我們的指導仍然不是基於我們目前所經歷的整體市場狀況的某種改善。因此，如果這些綠色床單確實顯現出來，那就代表了一些好處。但我們對今年此時的情況感覺良好。

Okay, great. Thanks for that.

好的，太好了。謝謝你。

Thank you, Steve.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。

Matt Larew, William Blair.

馬特拉魯，威廉布萊爾。

Hi. Good morning – afternoon. We’re on the afternoon. So, with VLX sort of being de-prioritized, I wanted to ask about future areas of priority for R&D and business development. Obviously, your core technology has had quite a gap over the field, perhaps even as others have tried to catch up, but you’re also just one part of a much broader process to do cell engineering.

你好。早安——下午好。我們現在是下午。因此，隨著 VLX 的優先順序被降低，我想詢問未來研發和業務發展的優先領域。顯然，你們的核心技術在該領域還存在相當大的差距，也許其他人已經試圖趕上，但你們也只是更廣泛的細胞工程過程的一部分。

And there are others out there that are perhaps trying to create automated or integrated solutions. Most of the R&D on the core platform, at least in the last several years, has been, I would humbly describe as, iterative and PA focused. What are the things that you can do, if not VLX, to become a bigger company in this space?

還有其他人可能正在嘗試創建自動化或整合解決方案。至少在過去幾年裡，核心平台上的大部分研發，我謙虛地描述為，迭代和 PA 為重點。如果不是 VLX，您可以做哪些事情來成為這個領域更大的公司？

And does that largely revolve around improvements to your system, your consumables, or does it involve creating new technologies or acquiring new technologies?

這主要是圍繞著系統、消耗品的改進，還是涉及創造新技術或取得新技術？

Yes. Good question, Matt. Let me take that one. So, obviously, we have been working on product development internally over the past year. We actually have hired a new Head of Engineering, his name is Jeremy Kolenbrander.

是的。好問題，馬特。讓我拿走那個。因此，顯然，過去一年我們一直在內部進行產品開發。實際上，我們聘請了一位新的工程主管，他的名字是 Jeremy Kolenbrander。

He joins us from 25-plus years at formerly Terumo and then Cellares as well. Obviously, our focus is on ensuring that we begin to, as you said, have a focus on those new products that are complementary that provide complementary workflows to our current customers and provide tangential – the tangential needs that they need in terms of the cell therapy workflow that we can begin to provide those type of opportunities and solutions for them.

他在加入我們之前曾在 Terumo 和 Cellares 工作了 25 多年。顯然，我們的重點是確保我們開始專注於那些互補的新產品，這些產品為我們目前的客戶提供互補的工作流程，並提供切向的需求——他們在以下方面所需的切向需求：我們可以開始為他們提供此類機會和解決方案的細胞治療工作流程。

Obviously, without getting into what we are working on for competitive reasons, the R&D focus is one of the priorities for us, and that is part of the reason why we are taking a very focused approach as to how we run the organization as well to make sure that we can focus on that R&D, doing it in a sustainable way as well, where our financial profile remains very healthy as we focus on the R&D, our balance sheet remains healthy as well.

顯然，在不考慮競爭原因的情況下，研發重點是我們的優先事項之一，這也是我們在如何運作組織方面採取非常集中的方法的部分原因。方式進行，當我們專注於研發時，我們的財務狀況保持非常健康，我們的資產負債表也保持健康。

And again, the main focus will be in cell therapy. We see that as a long and sustainable driver for MaxCyte. We believe in cell therapy. I truly believe that cell therapy is going to change the landscape of medicine over years to come. So, there is a huge growth driver there for us. And like you said in the past, it’s been iterative, but we are trying to be more than just that, right?

同樣，主要焦點將是細胞療法。我們認為這是 MaxCyte 的長期且可持續的驅動力。我們相信細胞療法。我堅信細胞療法將在未來幾年改變醫學格局。因此，我們有一個巨大的成長動力。就像您過去所說的那樣，它一直在迭代，但我們正在努力做到的不僅僅是這些，對吧？

And that’s why there is a focus on bringing in the Head of Engineering and creating those complementary workflows and taking – and really starting to provide solutions for those tangential needs of our customers.

這就是為什麼我們專注於引入工程主管並創建這些互補的工作流程，並真正開始為客戶的那些切向需求提供解決方案。

Okay. Thank you. And then you have obviously described having the manufacturing capability and capacity, I should say, to support multiple commercial therapies. In terms of pursuing the broader placement opportunity for your technology with future or current SPL partners, do you have the broader organizational infrastructure in place, be it sales and marketing, field application specialists, etcetera, to support not just multiple commercial therapies, but really to penetrate in the way that you want to the total addressable market that you have?

好的。謝謝。然後，我應該說，您顯然描述了擁有支持多種商業療法的製造能力和能力。在為您的技術與未來或當前的SPL 合作夥伴尋求更廣泛的安置機會方面，您是否擁有更廣泛的組織基礎設施，無論是銷售和營銷、現場應用專家等，不僅支持多種商業療法，而且真正支持以您想要的方式滲透到您擁有的整個潛在市場？

Yes, great question. That’s one of our strengths is the support that we provide to our current customers, where we have a very built out sales organization, sales and marketing organization with sales reps and then field application scientists.

是的，很好的問題。我們的優勢之一是為現有客戶提供支持，我們擁有非常完善的銷售組織、銷售和行銷組織以及銷售代表和現場應用科學家。

Many of them we have with PhDs and years of experience in the space. So, we feel as though the current organization that we have, we can leverage for the growth that we believe we can drive towards over the next three years, five years and plus years, beyond that.

我們其中許多人擁有博士學位並在該領域擁有多年的經驗。因此，我們覺得我們現有的組織可以利用我們相信我們可以在未來三年、五年甚至更多年裡實現的成長。

That allows us to penetrate in the current addressable market compared to other competitors, especially smaller competitors that don’t have that type of infrastructure and that scientific support or regulatory support that we have. So, yes, we feel very confident, Matt, to your question whether we have the appropriate sales organization to begin to take advantage of opportunities ahead of us.

與其他競爭對手相比，這使我們能夠滲透到當前的潛在市場，特別是與我們不具備此類基礎設施以及科學支援或監管支援的小型競爭對手相比。所以，是的，馬特，對於您提出的我們是否擁有適當的銷售組織來開始利用擺在我們面前的機會的問題，我們感到非常有信心。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Absolutely. Thanks Matt.

絕對地。謝謝馬特。

Paul Cuddon, Deutsche Numis. Our next question, it will come from Jack Siedow, Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

保羅卡登，德國努米斯。我們的下一個問題將來自 Craig-Hallum Capital Group 的 Jack Siedow。

Hi, guys. This is Jack on for Matt. Can you hear me, alright?

嗨，大家好。這是馬特的傑克。你聽得到我說話嗎？

We can hear you, Jack, absolutely.

傑克，我們絕對能聽到你的聲音。

Alright. Just when looking at the overall macro environment so far throughout Q2 earnings, we have kind of heard from others participating in the pharma and biotech industry that the funding environment is improving. Could you just provide some more color from what you are hearing from your customers?

好吧。就在整個第二季收益中迄今為止的整體宏觀環境時，我們從參與製藥和生物技術行業的其他人那裡聽到融資環境正在改善。您能否根據您從客戶那裡聽到的資訊提供更多資訊？

I know in your prepared remarks that some of them are still being cautious with how they deploy their capital. Just kind of interested what you guys are seeing or hearing. Thanks.

我知道在你準備好的發言中，他們中的一些人仍然對如何配置資金持謹慎態度。只是對你們所看到或聽到的興趣。謝謝。

I think the market is improving a little bit. Obviously, you have a day like yesterday, makes you question that a little bit, but it’s only one day. For us, we are looking at our detailed forecast, we are feeling very good where we are versus the objectives we set for ourselves, and we are just not building in any improvement in that, significant improvement in the landscape for the industry.

我認為市場正在好轉。顯然，你有像昨天一樣的一天，這讓你有點質疑，但這只是一天。對我們來說，我們正在研究詳細的預測，與我們為自己設定的目標相比，我們感覺非常好，我們只是沒有在這方面做出任何改進，顯著改善行業的前景。

Does that mean, again, there is not some green shoots out there, some reasons to be optimistic, I think certainly, but it’s anecdotal. We are seeing some financings. We are hearing some things. But at this point, our goal here is to execute against the plan. And if the markets improves, then I think that we will raise the bar for ourselves.

我想這是否意味著還沒有出現一些新的萌芽，沒有一些樂觀的理由，但這是軼事。我們看到了一些融資。我們正在聽到一些事情。但目前，我們的目標是按照計劃執行。如果市場改善，那麼我認為我們會提高自己的標準。

Yes. Let me add something there as well. I mean so nothing has changed from the previous quarter in the sense of we are still seeing our customers rationalize their products and their pipeline, focusing on what their lead assets and what they believe has the highest likelihood of going through the clinic and having commercial success.

是的。讓我也添加一些內容。我的意思是，與上一季相比沒有任何變化，因為我們仍然看到我們的客戶合理化他們的產品和管道，重點關注他們的主要資產以及他們認為最有可能通過臨床並取得商業成功的資產。

I see that as a good sign, right. That’s what you want to see. You want to have that healthy rationalization. We are still cautiously optimistic. As Doug mentioned, we are seeing some green shoots here and there, but at the same time, it’s still – we are tied to the macro environment.

我認為這是一個好兆頭，對吧。這就是您想看到的。你想要有健康的合理化。我們仍持謹慎樂觀態度。正如道格所提到的，我們到處都看到了一些萌芽，但同時，它仍然是——我們與宏觀環境息息相關。

It’s still somewhat of a challenging macro environment for many companies out there, but we are still seeing the same stability that we saw towards the end of last year going to Q1 as well. That stability is there, which is we see that as a positive.

對許多公司來說，宏觀環境仍然充滿挑戰，但我們仍然看到去年年底第一季的穩定性。這種穩定性是存在的，我們認為這是正面的。

Alright. That makes sense. Thanks for taking our question.

好吧。這是有道理的。感謝您提出我們的問題。

Paul Cuddon, Deutsche Numis.

保羅卡登，德國努米斯。

Yes. Good afternoon, guys. Can you hear me okay this time?

是的。下午好，夥計們。這次你聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Okay. Sorry about before. Just a quick question, I mean PA is sort of a step up on Q4 gain. So, I am just wondering, if you are seeing any areas of kind of particularly sort of high consumption thinking, sort of non-T-cell cell types, different targets and some of your new customers coming through there?

好的。之前的事很抱歉。只是一個簡單的問題，我的意思是 PA 是第四季增益的進步。所以，我只是想知道，您是否看到任何特別高消費思維的領域、某種非 T 細胞類型、不同的目標以及您的一些新客戶？

Yes. Obviously, we are seeing – so, our customer base is a variety of customers, different cell types. It’s always been the case. That hasn’t changed for us, Paul. I guess is your question getting towards, is there a concentration of certain sales towards one particular type of modality, is that what you are alluding to, Paul?

是的。顯然，我們看到了——因此，我們的客戶群是各種客戶、不同的細胞類型。情況一直如此。保羅，這對我們來說並沒有改變。我想你的問題是，某些銷售是否集中在特定類型的模式上，這就是你所暗示的，保羅？

Yes, absolutely.

是的，絕對是。

Yes. No, again, I think it’s across the range, whether it’s T-cells or TILs or TCRs. For different targets, you see, obviously, you have a lot of companies out there pursuing CD19 or CD70s. But I would say it’s across. There is not one particular indication or modality or cell type that we are seeing.

是的。不，我再次認為它是跨範圍的，無論是 T 細胞、TIL 還是 TCR。對於不同的目標，顯然有很多公司在追求 CD19 或 CD70。但我想說的是，這已經過去了。我們沒有看到任何一種特定的適應症、模式或細胞類型。

In fact, what we are seeing is more of complexity in the cell therapy space, where you are seeing some of our customers and partners really begin to have three, four, five edits. Whether they are reducing exhaustion of the T-cell or creating persistence in the T-cell, so it’s – we are seeing more complexity.

事實上，我們看到細胞治療領域更加複雜，你會看到我們的一些客戶和合作夥伴確實開始進行三、四、五次編輯。無論它們是在減少 T 細胞的耗竭，還是在 T 細胞中創造持久性，所以我們看到了更多的複雜性。

We are seeing an evolving market itself in the cell therapy space. I wouldn’t tie it down to any one particular cell type or target itself.

我們看到細胞治療領域的市場本身正在不斷發展。我不會將其與任何特定的細胞類型或目標本身聯繫起來。

Thank you. And secondly from me, just going back to the drug discovery side, and obviously, a fairly weak quarter. Is this sort of the level that you think you can sustain now or should we kind of anticipate sort of continued step downs with VLX, so moving back a little bit?

謝謝。其次，我想回到藥物發現方面，顯然，這是一個相當疲軟的季度。您認為現在可以維持這種水平嗎？

So, I don’t think we are guiding specifically by line, right. So, we did see a dip in Q2. When we forecast the rest of the year, we are looking at the PA run rates, we are looking at the specific instrument opportunities, we are looking at the leases that are in place and renewing. So, regardless of sort of how cell therapy and drug discovery individually evolve, which again, we don’t guide separately, we feel confident about the guidance we have set for ourselves.

所以，我不認為我們是在專門按路線進行指導，對吧。所以，我們確實看到第二季出現下滑。當我們預測今年剩餘時間時，我們會關注 PA 運行率，我們會關注特定的工具機會，我們會關注已到位和續簽的租賃。因此，無論細胞療法和藥物發現各自如何發展（同樣，我們不會單獨指導），我們對為自己設定的指導充滿信心。

Is there some noise quarter-to-quarter, there always is. And so, let’s check back in a couple of months here, a few months here and see where we stand. But we are not certainly panicking. We do know there is great applications for our technology on both the cell therapy and drug discovery side.

每季度是否有一些噪音，總是有的。因此，讓我們幾個月後回來看看我們的立場。但我們不一定會感到恐慌。我們確實知道我們的技術在細胞治療和藥物發現方面都有很大的應用。

But as we have mentioned, the focus of the company, where we see the biggest opportunity to participate in the downstream economic success of our customers, is on the cell therapy side.

但正如我們所提到的，公司的重點是細胞療法方面，我們認為參與客戶下游經濟成功的最大機會。

That’s right, Doug.

沒錯，道格。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Yes. Thank you, Paul.

是的。謝謝你，保羅。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Mark Massaro, BTIG.

馬克·馬薩羅，BTIG。

Hi guys. Thank you for taking the questions and congrats on the strong quarter. You guys came in above at least my estimates on both the core and the SPL side. But I wanted to start by asking about the SPL. So, you started the year with a $3 million target. You raised it to $5 million. You have already done $6.1 million or yes, a little over $6 million in the first half.

嗨，大家好。感謝您提出問題，並祝賀本季的強勁表現。你們在核心和 SPL 的表現至少高於我的估計。但我想先詢問 SPL。因此，您今年伊始的目標是 300 萬美元。你把它提高到了 500 萬美元。上半年你已經賺了 610 萬美元，或者是的，略高於 600 萬美元。

Can you maybe just talk about the types of things that you might have pulled forward in Q2? And it’s a little surprising that there is nothing in the back half. Should we consider that upside and maybe just walk me through what the potential opportunity could be as we think about 2025?

您能否談談您在第二季可能會推進的事情類型？令人有點驚訝的是後半部什麼都沒有。我們是否應該考慮這項好處，並讓我了解 2025 年的潛在機會？

Yes. Thank you. So, first off, we are not in a position to provide guidance on 2025. Are we expecting to receive milestones in 2025 and SPL program related revenue to include both milestones and royalties, absolutely are we in a position to guide today, no.

是的。謝謝。因此，首先，我們無法提供 2025 年的指導。我們是否期望在 2025 年獲得里程碑以及 SPL 計劃相關收入（包括里程碑和特許權使用費），我們今天絕對能夠提供指導嗎？

The reason why we are suggesting that we won’t have any the rest of the year is there were some things that occurred earlier in the year than we expected. And in some cases, which we discussed on the last earnings call, there are things that we didn’t think would happen this year, really speaks that to the lumpiness of this, the difficulty to predict when these development milestones will occur.

我們之所以建議今年剩餘時間不會有任何事情，是因為今年發生的一些事情比我們預期的要早。在某些情況下，我們在上次財報電話會議上討論了一些我們認為今年不會發生的事情，這確實說明了事情的複雜性，很難預測這些發展里程碑何時會發生。

One of the benefit of having a growing roster of SPL customers is that at some point that lumpiness can smooth out a little bit, but it can be very difficult to predict when a particular milestone is going to be achieved. We are taking a conservative view here as we look at what could hit this year, and we – probability weight things, we say let’s assume that we have gotten done what we were going to this year and we are just going to focus on running our business.

擁有越來越多的 SPL 客戶的好處之一是，在某些時候，波動性可以稍微平滑一些，但很難預測何時會達到特定的里程碑。當我們考慮今年可能發生的事情時，我們採取保守的觀點，我們——我們說，讓我們假設我們已經完成了今年要做的事情，並且我們正在繼續進行專注於經營我們的業務。

That milestone money, sort of mailbox money, we don’t have to think about it. We are not going to set guidance for 2025. Something else gets pulled into 2024, that’s some upside. We are not counting on it – it’s not impacting how we are thinking about the business for the rest of the year.

那些具有里程碑意義的錢，類似於郵箱錢，我們不必考慮它。我們不會為 2025 年制定指導方針。2024 年還會有一些其他的事情發生，那就是一些好處。我們並不指望它——它不會影響我們對今年剩餘時間業務的看法。

Okay. Got it. Appreciate that. You guys talked about five programs with launch potential in 2027 and then you talked about an opportunity for 10 approved programs across indications of multiple myeloma and autoimmune disease between 2028 and 2030.

好的。知道了。很欣賞這一點。你們談到了 2027 年有可能推出的 5 個項目，然後談到了 2028 年至 2030 年間針對多發性骨髓瘤和自體免疫疾病適應症的 10 個批准項目的機會。

Can you maybe just walk me through some of the assumptions in those estimates? Maybe talk about probability of success or other assumptions that went in? And I assume that the 10 approvals, you are talking about regulatory approval, not just US, but full commercial launch globally. Can you maybe just clarify that?

您能否向我介紹一下這些估計中的一些假設？也許談論成功的機率或其他假設？我認為這 10 項批准是指監管部門的批准，不僅僅是美國，而是全球範圍內的全面商業發布。你能澄清一下嗎？

Yes, absolutely. You are right. So, these are regulatory approvals. That would be whether it’s in the US or in Europe, whichever occurs first. But most likely, it’s always in the US. Let me walk you through a little bit. So, for 20, the reason we are saying in ‘27 we could have potentially five approved therapies is there are three programs currently about to enter potential pivotal start in ‘25 and then we have actually, it’s almost four programs that will be pivotal starting ‘25, and we have one program currently in a Phase 3.

是的，絕對是。你是對的。因此，這些都是監管部門的批准。這就是無論是在美國還是在歐洲，以先發生者為準。但最有可能的是，它總是在美國。讓我向您介紹一下。因此，對於 20 來說，我們在 27 年說我們可能有 5 種可能獲得批准的療法的原因是，目前有 3 個項目即將在 25 年進入潛在的關鍵啟動階段，然後我們實際上已經幾乎從2025年開始，四個計劃將變得至關重要，目前我們有一個計劃處於第三階段。

So, when you look at it and you do the timeline as to what potentially they can be approved in, conservatively, I think we are looking at ‘27 for those programs. Same thing thereafter, we have other programs.

因此，當你查看它並確定它們可能在哪些方面獲得批准的時間表時，保守地說，我認為我們正在考慮這些計劃的 27。此後同樣的事情，我們還有其他計劃。

They will be entering into pivotal a few years thereafter. Some of them one year, ‘26, or ‘27 is when they are entering into pivotal. So, that’s where we are projecting that we would have additional approvals back to you or three years after that, so to speak. But really, if you look at the near-term, you are looking at three to four programs in a pivotal start in ‘25, one program right now in a Phase 3. If you do the math, you are looking at approvals starting in ‘27.

幾年後他們將進入關鍵時期。其中一些一年，即26年或27年，是他們進入關鍵時刻的時候。因此，這就是我們預計我們將獲得額外批准的地方，或者三年後，可以這麼說。但實際上，如果你著眼於近期，你會發現在 25 世紀的關鍵開端，你會看到三到四個項目，其中一個項目目前處於第三階段。如果你算一下，你會發現批准從 27 日開始。

Now, in terms of the probability of success, that’s tough for us to do, very tough for us to do because, obviously, if we could do that, we would be in a different line of business, I guess. But it’s – the one thing that we talked about, I think on our last earnings call, the beauty of the cell therapy market is, you will get insight as to whether there is efficacy possibly sooner than other modalities, right.

現在，就成功的可能性而言，這對我們來說很難做到，非常困難，因為顯然，如果我們能做到這一點，我想我們將從事不同的業務。但這是我們談論的一件事，我認為在我們上次的財報電話會議上，細胞療法市場的美妙之處在於，你會比其他方式更快地了解是否有療效，對吧。

You can see efficacy with patients and, oftentimes, with a fewer number of patients. So, we will – hopefully, we will get more clarity when these – when the therapies begin their pivotal starts in ‘25. If we see efficacy, obviously, then we will see it sooner than anticipated. But we feel confident that there are five potentially in ‘27 and then, thereafter, we can have an additional five going into a few years after that.

您可以在患者身上看到療效，通常是在較少數量的患者身上看到療效。因此，我們希望，當這些療法在 25 年開始關鍵的開始時，我們會更加清楚。顯然，如果我們看到功效，那麼我們會比預期更早看到它。但我們相信，27 年可能會出現 5 個，之後的幾年內，我們可能還會有另外 5 個。

Excellent. Thanks guys.

出色的。謝謝你們。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

I show no further questions at this time in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back to Maher for closing remarks.

此時我在隊列中沒有顯示任何其他問題。現在我想把電話轉回給馬赫，讓他發表結束語。

Yes. Thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for joining us on today’s call. We look forward to speaking to everyone again during the next earnings call in a few months.

是的。謝謝接線員，也謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。我們期待在幾個月後的下一次財報電話會議上再次與大家交談。

This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。