NanoString Technologies Inc (NSTG) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is Krista and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the NanoString Third Quarter Operating Results. (Operator Instructions) Thank you.

午安.我叫克里斯塔，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。此時，我謹歡迎大家關注 NanoString 第三季營運績效。 （操作員說明）謝謝。

I will now turn the conference over to Doug Farrell, Investor Relations. Doug, you may begin.

我現在將會議交給投資者關係部門的道格法雷爾 (Doug Farrell)。道格，你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Joining me on the call today is Brad Gray, our President and CEO, as well as our CFO, Tom Bailey. Earlier today, we released our financial results for the third quarter ended September 30th, 2023. During this call, we may make statements that are forward-looking, including statements about financial and operating projections, future business growth, trends and related factors, expectations regarding future operating results, future cash flows, current and future instrument orders, as well as our manufacturing capacity, prospects for expanding and penetrating our addressable markets, our strategic focus and objectives and the development status and anticipated success of recent product offerings and as well as investor expectations regarding the impact of our convertible note exchange and the impact of macroeconomic factors.

謝謝你，接線生。今天加入我的電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Brad Gray 以及我們的財務長 Tom Bailey。今天早些時候，我們發布了截至2023 年9 月30 日的第三季財務業績。在這次電話會議中，我們可能會做出前瞻性聲明，包括有關財務和營運預測、未來業務成長、趨勢和相關因素、預期的聲明關於未來的經營業績、未來的現金流、當前和未來的儀器訂單以及我們的製造能力、擴大和滲透我們的目標市場的前景、我們的戰略重點和目標以及近期產品的開發狀況和預期成功以及作為投資者對我們可轉換票據交易所影響的預期以及宏觀經濟因素的影響。

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in our SEC filings. Our results may differ materially from those projected and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Later in the call, Tom will be discussing our Q3 financial results and guidance for the balance of 2023. We have prepared as a supplement to GAAP financial measures, selected non-GAAP adjusted measures, the calculation of which are described in detail in our press release. Throughout the call, all financial measures will be GAAP unless otherwise noted.

前瞻性陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，包括我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中所述的風險和不確定性。我們的結果可能與預測的結果有重大差異，我們不承擔更新這些前瞻性陳述的義務。稍後在電話會議中，Tom 將討論我們第三季度的財務業績和2023 年餘額的指導。我們準備了選定的非GAAP 調整指標作為GAAP 財務指標的補充，其計算方法在我們的新聞中詳細描述發布。在整個電話會議期間，除非另有說明，所有財務指標都將採用公認會計準則。

You can also find reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures, as well as the description, limitations and rationale for using such measures in this afternoon's press release. Today, the analysts and investors are building their models, we have posted exhibits under the Financial Information tab of our Investor Relations home page that include a presentation of non-GAAP or adjusted measures and other selected and financial data. I'd also like to remind everyone that next week we'll be participating in the Stifel Healthcare Conference in New York, as well as the Jefferies Healthcare Conference in London. We look forward to having the opportunity to speak with many of you there.

您還可以在今天下午的新聞稿中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 衡量標準的調整表，以及使用此類衡量標準的描述、限制和理由。今天，分析師和投資者正在建立他們的模型，我們在投資者關係主頁的「財務資訊」標籤下發布了展品，其中包括非公認會計原則或調整後的衡量標準以及其他選定的財務數據的演示。我還想提醒大家，下週我們將參加在紐約舉行的 Stifel 醫療保健會議，以及在倫敦舉行的 Jefferies 醫療保健會議。我們期待有機會與你們中的許多人交談。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Brad.

現在我想把電話轉給布拉德。

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. The past several months have been incredibly productive for NanoString. I'm happy to have this opportunity to expand on the strong operating results that we preannounced on October 10th and to update you on some key developments in more recent weeks. Our Q3 revenue of more than $48 million was a record high and an increase of more than 60% over the prior year. We reduced our cash burn by about 50% sequentially in the third quarter and the reorganization that we announced last month is expected to reduce our operating expenses by more than $15 million annually.

下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。 NanoString 在過去的幾個月裡取得了令人難以置信的成果。我很高興有這個機會擴展我們 10 月 10 日預先宣布的強勁營運業績，並向您介紹最近幾週的一些關鍵進展。我們第三季的營收超過 4,800 萬美元，創歷史新高，比上年增長超過 60%。第三季我們的現金消耗環比減少了約 50%，我們上個月宣布的重組預計將使我們的營運費用每年減少超過 1500 萬美元。

With our solid revenue growth and leaner operating model, we believe we are putting the company on track to become profitable in 2025. Just as importantly, we worked with the major holders of our convertible debt to exchange approximately $216 million of our convertible notes for new senior secured notes, with an extended maturity till September of 2026. This pushes the maturity to a point in time in which we expect to be profitable, which we believe will give us a broader menu of options to retire the debt, while also removing a near-term financial overhang that may have kept some investors on the sidelines.

憑藉我們穩健的收入成長和更精簡的營運模式，我們相信我們將使公司走上在2025 年實現盈利的軌道。同樣重要的是，我們與可轉換債券的主要持有者合作，將約2.16 億美元的可轉換票據換成新的可轉換票據。優先擔保票據，期限延長至2026 年9 月。這將到期日推至我們預期能夠盈利的時間點，我們相信這將為我們提供更廣泛的選擇來償還債務，同時也消除了近期的財務壓力可能會讓一些投資者保持觀望。

We have also strengthened our leadership team. In August, we welcomed Todd Garland as our Chief Commercial Officer. Todd joins us with 25 years of experience in life sciences, spanning the full spectrum from discovery to clinical markets. Todd has been traveling in the field extensively for a couple of months now and is impressed with the passion and the talent of our commercial team. He has some great ideas on how to continue to improve our performance and I have the utmost confidence that Todd will drive the effectiveness of our commercial organization and our future growth.

我們也加強了領導團隊。八月，我們歡迎 Todd Garland 擔任我們的首席商務長。 Todd 加入我們時在生命科學領域擁有 25 年的經驗，涵蓋從發現到臨床市場的各個領域。托德已經在該領域進行了幾個月的廣泛考察，我們商業團隊的熱情和才華給他留下了深刻的印象。他對如何繼續提高我們的績效有一些很好的想法，我非常有信心托德將推動我們商業組織的有效性和我們未來的成長。

I'd now like to provide an update on our progress towards our strategic objectives for the year. Our first objective for 2023 is to increase our penetration of the spatial biology market. During the third quarter, spatial biology demand was healthy across both instruments and consumables. We exited Q3 with an installed base of more than 500 spatial biology systems, an increase of more than 50% over the prior year. Our CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager remains the primary growth driver of the business, accounting for most of our spatial instrument orders as the single cell resolution of the platform attracts discovery researchers who are expanding from droplet-based single-cell research into spatial biology.

現在我想介紹一下我們今年戰略目標的最新進展。我們 2023 年的首要目標是提高我們在空間生物學市場的滲透率。第三季度，太空生物學對儀器和消耗品的需求都很健康。第三季結束時，我們的安裝基礎已超過 500 個空間生物學系統，比前一年增長了 50% 以上。我們的CosMx 空間分子成像儀仍然是該業務的主要增長動力，佔據了我們大部分空間儀器訂單，因為該平台的單細胞分辨率吸引了正在從基於液滴的單細胞研究擴展到空間生物學的發現研究人員。

Demand is especially strong from new to NanoString customers, who accounted for more than 90% of CosMx's orders during the third quarter. Academic and government-funded researchers continue to account for about 65% of new CosMx orders, with biopharma companies and the CROs who serve them, growing to account for about 35% of new orders in the third quarter.

NanoString 新客戶的需求尤其強勁，第三季這些客戶佔 CosMx 訂單的 90% 以上。學術和政府資助的研究人員繼續佔新 CosMx 訂單的約 65%，而生物製藥公司和為其提供服務的 CRO 在第三季度增長至約佔新訂單的 35%。

While ongoing litigation slowed the pace of orders in Europe, strong demand in North America drove overall CosMx's momentum. Despite what we believe are our competitors' efforts to misuse preliminary court rulings to create anxiety for customers and eliminate competition, we have successfully defended our sizable CosMx instrument order book to filling or retaining approximately 95% of cumulative orders. CosMx has now been used to generate approximately 20 peer review publications and 25 preprints across multiple applications.

雖然持續的訴訟減緩了歐洲的訂單步伐，但北美的強勁需求推動了 CosMx 的整體發展勢頭。儘管我們認為我們的競爭對手試圖濫用法院的初步裁決來製造客戶焦慮並消除競爭，但我們已成功捍衛了我們龐大的 CosMx 儀器訂單簿，以完成或保留約 95% 的累積訂單。 CosMx 現已用於產生約 20 份同行評審出版物和 25 份跨多個應用程式的預印本。

Our AtoMx Spatial Informatics Platform provides telemetry that allows us to monitor customer success and we can see that researchers have collectively created more than 1,000 studies across more than 100 customer sites. We are continuing to enhance our AtoMx platforms, features, functionality and usability by listening to customers and implementing a series of software upgrades and we are excited about AtoMx's continued evolution.

我們的 AtoMx 空間資訊學平台提供遙測功能，使我們能夠監控客戶的成功，我們可以看到研究人員在 100 多個客戶站點總共創建了 1,000 多項研究。我們透過傾聽客戶的意見並實施一系列軟體升級，繼續增強我們的 AtoMx 平台、特性、功能和可用性，我們對 AtoMx 的持續發展感到興奮。

One of the biggest advantages of CosMx over competing spatial imagers comes from an Hi-Plex, which we are convinced is the single most important product attribute for imagers. Scientists have a huge fear of missing out that drives them to seek the broadest content panels available. We have seen time and again that as we add plex, customer demand goes up. This is the same characteristic we saw in the next-generation sequencing market as they move from focus panels to whole genome sequencing.

與競爭性太空成像儀相比，CosMx 的最大優勢之一來自 Hi-Plex，我們相信這是成像儀最重要的產品屬性。科學家們非常害怕錯過，這促使他們尋找最廣泛的可用內容面板。我們一次又一次地看到，隨著複雜性的增加，客戶的需求也會增加。這與我們在次世代定序市場中看到的相同特徵，因為它們從焦點小組轉向全基因組定序。

Our competitors are offering targeted RNA panels of just a few hundred plex. The CosMx 1000-plex RNA assay that we offer today provides twice the plex of competing assays. And our CosMx assay road map is designed to push plex to the limit. In September, we released our first public 6000-plex data set, which was generated from human brain tissue. The data set nicely demonstrates the value of maximizing plex as confidence was able to detect over 3000 unique genes in the sample, with an average over 500 unique genes in each individual cell. We remain on track to begin shipping our 6000 plex RNA assay kits during the first quarter of 2024 and will provide customers a sneak peak of this new assay, when we begin offering it via our technology access program service later this quarter.

我們的競爭對手提供的靶向 RNA panel 僅有幾百個 plex。我們今天提供的 CosMx 1000-plex RNA 檢測提供的 plex 是競爭檢測的兩倍。我們的 CosMx 偵測路線圖旨在將 plex 推向極限。 9 月，我們發布了第一個公開的 6000 重資料集，該資料集是由人類腦組織產生的。該資料集很好地證明了最大化 plex 的價值，因為置信度能夠檢測到樣本中超過 3000 個獨特基因，每個細胞中平均有超過 500 個獨特基因。我們仍有望在2024 年第一季開始出貨6000 plex RNA 檢測試劑盒，並在本季度稍後開始透過我們的技術存取計畫服務提供這種新檢測試劑盒時，為客戶提供該新檢測試劑盒子的先睹為快。

Plex is not the only advantage of CosMx relative to competitors. CosMx also provides highly accurate cell segmentation, which allows the instrument to find the boundaries between the cells and properly assign the RNA or protein molecule detected to correct cell -- a failure to properly segment cells in a tissue calls this molecule to be assigned to the wrong cells, making the data generated useless or even worse misleading.

Plex 並不是 CosMx 相對於競爭對手的唯一優勢。 CosMx 還提供高度準確的細胞分割，使儀器能夠找到細胞之間的邊界，並將檢測到的RNA 或蛋白質分子正確分配給正確的細胞——未能正確分割組織中的細胞會將該分子分配給正確的細胞。錯誤的單元格，使得產生的數據毫無用處，甚至產生更嚴重的誤導。

Next week, we'll be highlighting the CosMx's road map at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, where our scientists and customers will present more than 20 studies showcasing our spatial platforms. Some studies will include the new 6000 plex RNA data sets, generated on human brain samples, while other studies will demonstrate the power of using both our new 1000 plex mouse RNA panel and our 64 plex CosMx mouse neuroscience protein panel on the same slide.

下週，我們將在神經科學學會年會上重點介紹 CosMx 的路線圖，我們的科學家和客戶將在會上展示 20 多項展示我們空間平台的研究。一些研究將包括在人類大腦樣本上產生的新的6000 plex RNA 資料集，而其他研究將證明在同一張幻燈片上使用我們的新1000 plex 小鼠RNA 面板和64 plex CosMx 小鼠神經科學蛋白質面板的強大功能。

While GeoMx continues to account for a minority of our new spatial system orders, it drives most of our spatial consumable revenue. Our installed base of GeoMx systems remains highly productive, generating more than 320 purviewed publications to date. This body of research nearly doubled in the last 12 months, showcasing many exciting applications for spatial biology. And the investors may not appreciate the importance of proteomic applications in driving GeoMx utilization.

雖然 GeoMx 繼續占我們新空間系統訂單的一小部分，但它推動了我們大部分空間消費品收入。我們安裝的 GeoMx 系統基礎仍然保持著高生產力，迄今為止已產生了 320 多篇受授權的出版物。在過去 12 個月中，該研究機構的數量幾乎翻了一番，展示了空間生物學的許多令人興奮的應用。投資者可能沒有意識到蛋白質體學應用在推動 GeoMx 利用方面的重要性。

Protein applications account for about half of the GeoMx sample volume and half of its purviewed papers. Protein applications have remained a focus for our GeoMx road map. In September, we announced a groundbreaking new assay for GeoMx called the IO Proteome Atlas or IPA. While many spatial biology systems provide protein applications of modest plex, the GeoMx IPA represent something completely new. At 570 plex, the IPA covers virtually every target in oncology and immunology for which an [IFC] antibody has ever been developed.

蛋白質應用約佔 GeoMx 樣本量的一半及其授權論文的一半。蛋白質應用仍然是我們 GeoMx 路線圖的重點。 9 月份，我們宣布了一項突破性的 GeoMx 新檢測方法，稱為 IO 蛋白質組圖譜 (IO Proteome Atlas) 或 IPA。雖然許多太空生物學系統提供適度複合的蛋白質應用，但 GeoMx IPA 代表了全新的東西。 IPA 具有 570 重，幾乎涵蓋了 [IFC] 抗體已開發的腫瘤學和免疫學領域的所有標靶。

IPA offers more than 5x the spatial protein content of any competing platform and its comprehensive coverage makes it ideal for screening clinical trial samples for new drug targets and biomarkers. The unveiling of IPA has already resulted in a surge of new interest in GeoMx. Last week, we highlighted the GeoMx IPA during the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer or SITC Conference as 2 early access customers presented data that they had generated with the new assay. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic demonstrated how the IPA provides a simple way to explore the long tail of potential protein biomarkers, discovering targets in breast cancer tissue that would have been missed in smaller panels.

IPA 提供的空間蛋白質含量是任何競爭平台的 5 倍以上，其全面的覆蓋範圍使其成為篩選新藥物標靶和生物標記的臨床試驗樣本的理想選擇。 IPA 的推出已經引起了人們對 GeoMx 的新興趣。上週，我們在癌症免疫治療協會或 SITC 會議上重點介紹了 GeoMx IPA，因為 2 位早期訪問客戶展示了他們透過新測定法產生的數據。梅奧診所的研究人員展示了 IPA 如何提供一種簡單的方法來探索潛在蛋白質生物標記的長尾，發現乳癌組織中在較小的面板中可能會被遺漏的目標。

Researchers from Mass General Hospital combined the GeoMx IPA with the RNA whole transcriptome atlas in to a single multiomic assay that was more effective than RNA seat at finding patterns that predict drug response in pancreatic cancer. Customer feedback on these presentations was extremely positive with many customers and all of the enormous increase in protein plex that we delivered, calling it a game changer. Many are looking forward to giving the IPA a try after we begin shipping the IPA to customers later this quarter.

麻省總醫院的研究人員將 GeoMx IPA 與 RNA 全轉錄組圖譜結合到一個多組學分析中，該分析在尋找預測胰腺癌藥物反應的模式方面比 RNA 座位更有效。客戶對這些演示的反饋非常積極，許多客戶以及我們提供的蛋白質複合物的巨大增加，稱其為遊戲規則改變者。在我們本季稍後開始向客戶交付 IPA 後，許多人都期待著嘗試 IPA。

Our second objective is to deliver predictable revenue growth. So far this year, we have beat our revenue guidance in every corner. In Q3, we exceeded the upper end of our revenue guidance by about $1 million as we successfully scaled up instrument manufacturing and continue to work through our substantial CosMx backlog. The team is working hard in the fourth quarter to install as many CosMx systems as possible, but we still expect to carry a backlog into 2024.

我們的第二個目標是實現可預測的收入成長。今年到目前為止，我們在各方面都超出了收入預期。在第三季度，隨著我們成功擴大儀器製造規模並繼續處理大量 CosMx 積壓訂單，我們超出了收入指導上限約 100 萬美元。團隊正在第四季度努力安裝盡可能多的 CosMx 系統，但我們仍然預計積壓的訂單將延續到 2024 年。

We've also seen improvement in nCounter instrument sales throughout the year and we're implementing initiatives to keep this foundational business a steady contributor. In an effort to ensure investor expectations remain in line with our revenue outlook during the fourth quarter, we're today narrowing our guidance range. The updated guidance reflects the impact of the preliminary injunction that prevents us from delivering CosMx units to customers in some European countries. A top end of the range represents healthier year-end spending by our customers, while the bottom end of the range keeps revenue approximately flat from Q3 to Q4 and reflects uncertain macroeconomic factors and the potential elongation of capital equipment sales cycles.

我們還看到 nCounter 儀器銷售在全年中有所改善，並且我們正在實施舉措，以保持這項基礎業務的穩定貢獻者。為了確保投資者的預期與我們第四季的收入前景保持一致，我們今天縮小了指導範圍。更新後的指南反映了初步禁令的影響，該禁令阻止我們向某些歐洲國家的客戶交付 CosMx 設備。該範圍的上限代表我們的客戶年終支出更加健康，而該範圍的下限則使第三季度到第四季度的收入大致持平，並反映了不確定的宏觀經濟因素和資本設備銷售週期的潛在延長。

Our third strategic objective is to demonstrate progress towards cash break even. As we shared with many investors during September, our company operates 2 franchises with very different profitability profiles. Our nCounter business, the leader in the mid-plex gene expression market already provides an estimated 30-plus percent EBITDA margin based on its consumable-heavy revenue mix and minimal R&D.

我們的第三個策略目標是展示現金收支平衡的進展。正如我們在 9 月與許多投資者分享的那樣，我們公司經營著 2 個盈利狀況截然不同的特許經營店。我們的 nCounter 業務是中型基因表現市場的領導者，基於其以消耗品為主的收入組合和最少的研發，預計 EBITDA 利潤率將超過 30%。

Our spatial biology franchise is rapidly growing, but not yet profitable based on the instrument heavy revenue mix and ongoing investments in product innovation. The team remains laser-focused on our path to profitability. During Q3, increased operational discipline helped cut our cash burn down 50% sequentially. Early last month, we reorganized our research and development and manufacturing operations, eliminating over 100 physicians. The impact of this expense reduction is not yet reflected in Street models, which we believe overestimate our operating loss in the coming years. Importantly, despite this reduction in force, we remain in a position to deliver the product road map that we have described publicly.

我們的太空生物學特許經營業務正在快速成長，但基於儀器的大量收入組合和對產品創新的持續投資，尚未實現盈利。團隊仍然專注於我們的獲利之路。第三季度，加強營運紀律幫助我們的現金消耗季減了 50%。上月初，我們重組了研發和製造業務，裁減了 100 多名醫生。費用削減的影響尚未反映在 Street 模型中，我們認為該模型高估了我們未來幾年的營運損失。重要的是，儘管力量減少，我們仍然能夠提供我們公開描述的產品路線圖。

To conclude my remarks, I'll provide an update on our ongoing IP litigation. In September, our competitor 10x Genomics was granted a preliminary injunction in the new European Unified Patent Court or UPC, that prevents us from selling our RNA detection assays for CosMx across the 17 European Union countries based on what is referred to as the [782 path]. We have appealed this decision to the UPC Court of Appeals in Luxembourg and expect this appeal will be heard in December.

在結束我的演講時，我將提供我們正在進行的智慧財產權訴訟的最新情況。 9 月，我們的競爭對手 10x Genomics 在新的歐洲統一專利法院 (UPC) 獲得初步禁令，禁止我們基於所謂的 [782 路徑] 在 17 個歐盟國家銷售 CosMx 的 RNA 檢測試劑盒]。我們已就這項決定向盧森堡 UPC 上訴法院提出上訴，預計將於 12 月審理該上訴。

The full UPC proceedings on the merits of 10x claims are expected to take place in the second half of 2024. On October 10, the UPC ruled in our favor in a second case related to what is referred to as the 928 path. The court denied 10x's request for preliminary injunction and raised questions on both the validity and infringement of this path. An issue in this ruling, the UPC considered elements of our arguments that were not addressed by the German court when it evaluated the same 928 patent in May, giving us another path forward in our appeal in Germany next year.

關於 10 倍索賠的完整 UPC 程序預計將於 2024 年下半年進行。10 月 10 日，UPC 在與所謂的 928 路徑相關的第二個案件中做出了對我們有利的裁決。法院駁回了10x的初步禁制令請求，並對這條路徑的有效性和侵權提出質疑。該裁決中的一個問題是，UPC 考慮了德國法院在 5 月評估​​同一項 928 專利時未解決的我們的論點要素，這為我們明年在德國的上訴提供了另一條道路。

Next week, we'll be in the U.S. District Court in Delaware for another IP lawsuit filed against us by 10x that alleges that GeoMx infringes patents that they acquired from a company called Prognosis. The trial is expected to begin on November 13th and last for 5 days. We're confident in the merits of our arguments that we intend to present and on the lack of infringement as well as the validity of the patents asserted by 10x. We will, of course, update you as soon as we know more about the outcome of this hearing.

下週，我們將在特拉華州的美國地方法院審理 10x 對我們提起的另一起智慧財產權訴訟，指控 GeoMx 侵犯了他們從一家名為 Prognosis 的公司獲得的專利。審判預計於11月13日開始，持續5天。我們對我們打算提出的論點的優點、不存在侵權以及 10x 所主張的專利的有效性充滿信心。當然，一旦我們了解更多有關此聽證會的結果，我們會立即向您通報最新情況。

Now I'd like Tom to take us through the details of our Q3 operating results.

現在我想讓 Tom 向我們詳細介紹第三季的經營業績。

Thanks, Brad and thanks all for joining us today. For the third quarter of 2023, total revenue was $48.1 million, representing 63% year-over-year growth. For our Spatial Biology business, Q3 revenue was $28.9 million, representing growth of more than 200% year-over-year. Spatial biology instrument revenue was $21.1 million, approximately 350% year-over-year growth. We shipped about 90 and installed about 65 spatial instruments during Q3, growing our spatial instrument installed base to approximately 510 instruments.

謝謝布萊德，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。 2023 年第三季總營收為 4,810 萬美元，年增 63%。對於我們的空間生物學業務，第三季營收為 2,890 萬美元，年成長超過 200%。太空生物儀器收入為 2,110 萬美元，年增約 350%。第三季度，我們出貨了約 90 台並安裝了約 65 台太空儀器，使我們的太空儀器安裝基數增加到約 510 台。

As a reminder for those updating their models, the number of instruments we installed during a quarter can differ as compared to the number of instruments we ship. Revenue recognition is based on instruments we ship during the quarter as opposed to installations. Q3 spatial biology consumables revenue was $7.8 million, representing 70% year-over-year growth and reflecting typical GeoMx consumables pull-through Q3 seasonality and continued stocking orders of CosMx's consumables.

提醒那些更新模型的人，我們在一個季度安裝的儀器數量與我們發貨的儀器數量可能有所不同。收入確認是基於我們在本季度發貨的儀器而不是安裝。第三季空間生物耗材收入為 780 萬美元，年增 70%，反映了典型的 GeoMx 耗材度過了第三季的季節性以及 CosMx 耗材的持續庫存訂單。

Q3 nCounter revenue, which includes all service and other revenue was $19.2 million, reflecting the continued stability and durability of the nCounter platform. nCounter instrument revenue was $2.5 million, consumables revenue was $10.5 million and service revenue was $6.2 million. At the end of Q3, our nCounter installed base was approximately 1,140 instruments.

第三季 nCounter 收入（包括所有服務和其他收入）為 1,920 萬美元，反映了 nCounter 平台的持續穩定性和耐用性。 nCounter 儀器收入為 250 萬美元，耗材收入為 1,050 萬美元，服務收入為 620 萬美元。截至第三季末，我們的 nCounter 安裝基數約為 1,140 台儀器。

Turning to margins and expenses, I'll provide results on a non-GAAP or adjusted basis, which removes the impact of stock-based compensation, appreciation, amortization and certain other items with no correlation to continuing operations. Please refer to our press release, as well as the exhibits we have posted to our Investor Relations web page for detailed information on how our non-GAAP or adjusted measures are prepared.

談到利潤率和費用，我將提供非公認會計原則或調整後的結果，這消除了基於股票的薪酬、升值、攤銷和與持續經營無關的某些其他項目的影響。請參閱我們的新聞稿以及我們在投資者關係網頁上發布的附件，以了解有關我們如何準備非公認會計準則或調整後措施的詳細資訊。

Q3 adjusted gross margin was 41%, impacted by revenue mix heavily weighted to spatial instruments which are currently selling at lower than planned gross margins due primarily to higher unit production costs accrued than expected. For the full year, we now expect gross margins will be in the low to mid-40% range with a higher-than-planned instrument production costs, partially offset in Q4 by the cost benefits of the reorganization announced on October 10th.

第三季調整後的毛利率為 41%，受到太空儀器收入結構的影響，這些儀器目前的銷售毛利率低於計劃，主要是由於單位生產成本高於預期。目前，我們預計全年毛利率將在 40% 左右，儀器生產成本高於計劃，但第四季度將被 10 月 10 日宣布的重組的成本效益部分抵消。

Adjusted R&D expense was $13.4 million, a decrease of 8% year-over-year, with lower personnel-related costs, partially offset by software development and consulting costs. We expect R&D expenses to be lower sequentially in the fourth quarter, primarily as a result of the reorganization. Adjusted SG&A expense was $26.7 million, a decrease of 6% year-over-year, reflecting lower personnel costs and lower trade show and other marketing-related expenses.

調整後的研發費用為 1,340 萬美元，年減 8%，其中人員相關成本較低，但被軟體開發和諮詢成本部分抵銷。我們預計第四季度研發費用將環比下降，這主要是由於重組的結果。調整後的 SG&A 費用為 2,670 萬美元，年減 6%，反映出人員成本下降以及貿易展和其他行銷相關費用的下降。

We expect SG&A expenses to be modestly lower in the fourth quarter as a result of the same factors. Q3 adjusted EBITDA loss was $20.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA loss is expected to decrease by about 50% or more in the fourth quarter as compared to the third quarter, driven primarily by operating expense savings from the reorganization. Our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were approximately $97 million as of September 30, 2023.

由於同樣的因素，我們預期第四季的銷售、管理及行政費用將小幅下降。第三季調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 2,020 萬美元。與第三季相比，第四季度調整後 EBITDA 損失預計將減少約 50% 或更多，這主要是由於重組帶來的營運費用節省。截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日，我們的現金、現金等價物和短期投資約為 9,700 萬美元。

Turning to guidance. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue to be in the range of $47 million to $52 million, representing about 45% year-over-year growth. This range includes $27 million to $31 million of spatial biology revenue and $20 million to $21 million of nCounter and service revenue. With that Q4 range, we are updating our 2023 annual revenue guidance range to $175 million to $180 million. Our updated annual range includes spatial biology revenue of $96 million to $100 million and nCounter revenue of $79 million to $80 million.

轉向指導。我們預計第四季的營收將在 4,700 萬美元至 5,200 萬美元之間，年增約 45%。該範圍包括 2,700 萬至 3,100 萬美元的空間生物學收入以及 2,000 萬至 2,100 萬美元的 nCounter 和服務收入。根據第四季的範圍，我們將 2023 年年度營收指引更新為 1.75 億美元至 1.8 億美元。我們更新的年度範圍包括 9,600 萬美元至 1 億美元的空間生物學收入和 7,900 萬美元至 8,000 萬美元的 nCounter 收入。

Given the lower expected gross margin range and the partially offsetting reduction in Q4 operating expenses, we now expect full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately $80 million to $85 million. Heading into 2024, we expect gross margins to improve driven by increasing consumable sales as a percentage of our total revenue and improved instrument production costs. We also expect with the reorganization that operating expenses will be sequentially lower in 2024 as compared to 2023, at least $15 million lower than what Street models currently reflect, which should support significantly improved profitability profile in 2024 and put us on track for our first full year profitability expected in 2025. We will offer more details when we provide our annual guidance for 2024 early in the new year.

鑑於預期毛利率範圍較低以及第四季度營運費用的部分抵消，我們現在預計 2023 年全年調整後 EBITDA 損失約為 8,000 萬至 8,500 萬美元。進入 2024 年，我們預計，由於消耗品銷售額佔總收入的百分比增加以及儀器生產成本的改善，毛利率將有所改善。我們也預計，透過重組，2024 年的營運費用將比2023 年連續下降，比Street 模型目前反映的至少低1500 萬美元，這應該會支持2024 年盈利狀況的顯著改善，並使我們有望實現第一個全面的目標。預計 2025 年將實現盈利。我們將在新年年初提供 2024 年年度指引時提供更多詳細資訊。

Finally, I'd like to comment on the exchange we've included for our convertible notes, the transaction we consummated with 2 large holders representing approximately 94% of the total principal amount. The old notes were exchanged for new senior secured notes with amounts due in September 26 are about 3 years from today. The new notes bear interest at 6.95% and will occupy a senior secured position in our capital structure. As part of this transaction, we granted $16 million in common stock warrants to the noteholders, replacing about 4.5 million shares potentially issuable under the old convertible notes.

最後，我想評論一下我們為可轉換票據所做的交換，我們與 2 個大股東完成的交易，約佔總本金的 94%。舊票據被交換為新的優先擔保票據，9 月 26 日到期的金額距離今天約為 3 年。新票據的利率為 6.95%，並將在我們的資本結構中佔據優先擔保地位。作為本交易的一部分，我們向票據持有人授予了 1,600 萬美元的普通股認股權證，取代了舊可轉換票據下可能發行的約 450 萬股股票。

During the first year, interest may be paid in kind at our option, saving the company about $15 million of cash expense as we take further steps to improve profitability in 2024. We want to thank these investors for their strong support of the company. Their enthusiasm for NanoString's future is aligned with ours and we appreciate their partnership. These new longer-dated notes provide the window needed for us to achieve profitability prior to maturity, which we believe will support improved terms and availability of any new financing required by that time.

第一年，我們可以選擇以實物方式支付利息，這為我們在 2024 年採取進一步措施提高盈利能力提供了約 1500 萬美元的現金支出。我們要感謝這些投資者對公司的大力支持。他們對 NanoString 未來的熱情與我們一致，我們感謝他們的合作。這些新的較長期票據為我們在到期前實現盈利提供了所需的窗口，我們相信這將支持改善條款和屆時所需的任何新融資的可用性。

Now I'll turn the call over to Brad for our closing comments.

現在我將把電話轉給布拉德，讓他發表結束語。

Thanks, Tom. In closing, the spatial biology market is experiencing explosive growth and our innovative technologies and compelling road map goes at the forefront of this exciting field. We are running the company in a disciplined manner and have taken a series of steps to rapidly improve the financial profile of the company, which may have in the past cloud our industrial interest. These steps include consistently exceeding our revenue guidance, substantially reducing our cash burn, adjusting our operating expenses, addressing our convertible debt and seeking to achieve profitability in 2025. With these improvements, we hope investors will take a fresh look at NanoString, as we refocus attention on the strong fundamentals of our business.

謝謝，湯姆。最後，太空生物學市場正在經歷爆炸性成長，我們的創新技術和引人注目的路線圖走在這個令人興奮的領域的最前沿。我們正在以嚴格的方式經營公司，並採取了一系列措施來迅速改善公司的財務狀況，這在過去可能會影響我們的工業利益。這些步驟包括持續超出我們的收入指導、大幅減少現金消耗、調整我們的營運支出、解決我們的可轉換債務以及尋求在2025 年實現盈利。透過這些改進，我們希望投資者能夠重新審視NanoString，因為我們重新專注於關注我們業務的強勁基礎。

Now we'd like to open the line for your questions.

現在我們願意開通您的提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of institution JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根大通機構的線路。

This is Marta Nazarovets on for Rachel Vatnsdal from JPMorgan. I just wanted to ask quickly on the guidance. So far this year, consistently beat the straight on the top line, but you modestly lowered the '23 guide. If I assume this a little bit during the call, but can you talk for the updated guidance, how much of the guide down is macro-related versus perhaps related to the injunction in Europe?

我是瑪爾塔·納扎羅維茨 (Marta Nazarovets)，代表摩根大通 (JPMorgan) 的雷切爾·瓦特斯達爾 (Rachel Vatnsdal)。我只是想快速詢問指導。今年到目前為止，您一直在頂線上擊敗直道，但您適度降低了 23 年的指南。如果我在電話會議期間假設這一點，但您能否談談更新後的指導意見，指導意見中有多少是與宏觀相關的，而不是可能與歐洲的禁令有關的？

I'd say you highlighted the 2 primary reasons that we took a more cautious, that we narrowed the end of our guidance range towards the more cautious end of our previous full year range. I mean the first fact that's changed is of course, that we are now enjoying from selling our #1 selling products into 17 European countries, which slows down the revenue recognition of CosMx overall. And then second, we have begun to see some elongation in the sales cycles of our higher-priced equipment. And we're hearing a number of our peer companies express some caution as we head into the fourth quarter. I'd say the cautionary notes include things such as possibility of a government shutdown and sort of caution that could emerge in the markets for academic researchers, as well as just more cautious outlooks for biopharma companies.

我想說，您強調了我們採取更加謹慎態度的兩個主要原因，即我們將指導範圍的末端縮小到了上一個全年範圍的更加謹慎的末端。我的意思是，第一個改變的事實是，我們現在正在享受向 17 個歐洲國家銷售排名第一的產品，這減緩了 CosMx 整體收入確認的速度。其次，我們開始看到價格較高的設備的銷售週期有所延長。當我們進入第四季度時，我們聽到許多同行公司表達了一些謹慎的態度。我想說的是，這些警告包括政府關閉的可能性、學術研究人員市場上可能出現的謹慎態度，以及生物製藥公司更謹慎的前景等。

In general, though, I mean, I think we feel really good about the long-term fundamentals of our marketplace. We feel that we're very fortunate to be in the forefront of this ongoing spatial biology revolution. And in any case, our full year revenue growth is going to be outstanding.

不過，總的來說，我認為我們對市場的長期基本面感覺非常好。我們感到非常幸運，能夠站在這場正在進行的太空生物學革命的最前線。無論如何，我們全年的收入成長將非常出色。

And just a clarification. Are you assuming some sort of modest 4Q budget flush at the midpoint of the guide?

只是一個澄清。您是否假設第四季度預算在指南的中間位置有某種適度的充裕？

Yes. One of the differences between the bottom and the top of the guide is at the bottom of the guide, we would expect a more modest budget flush and at the top of the guide in the middle and top of the guide more -- a larger Q4 budget flush.

是的。指南底部和頂部之間的差異之一是在指南底部，我們預計預算會更適度，而在指南頂部，在指南中部和頂部會有更多 - 更大的第四季度預算充裕。

Your next question comes from TD Cowen.

您的下一個問題來自 TD Cowen。

This is Kyle on for Dan. I just had a quick one on the gross margin profile here exiting '24. You said in the prepared remarks that we should see some gross margin benefit next year as consumables become a bigger portion of overall revenue. How should we think about that relative to pre-'23 where you were sort of in the low 50s range? Is it possible we could get back to that range in '24?

這是凱爾為丹代言。我剛剛快速了解了 24 年退出時的毛利率概況。您在準備好的發言中表示，隨著消耗品在總收入中所佔的比例越來越大，我們明年應該會看到一些毛利率的增加。相對於 23 年前你的年齡在 50 多歲的範圍內，我們該如何看待這一點？我們有可能在 24 年回到這個範圍嗎？

Yes, I think most of the Street models, Kyle, are in that range and we'll guide early in the year and get more explicit commentary. But I think with the consumables mix improving and our production costs improving, that we would hope to track back towards where the company has been historically, which is kind of in that low 50s range for next year and beyond. That's a good way to think about 2024 for now.

是的，我認為大多數街頭模特，凱爾，都在這個範圍內，我們將在今年年初提供指導並獲得更明確的評論。但我認為，隨著消耗品組合的改善和生產成本的改善，我們希望能夠回到公司的歷史水平，即明年及以後的 50 年代低水平。這是目前思考 2024 年的好方法。

And then just on the burn and cash needs. How should we be thinking about your cash position as you move closer towards profitability in 2025, would there need to be any rates between now and then? Or are you confident that you can get to that position?

然後就是燒錢和現金需求。當您在 2025 年接近獲利時，我們應該如何考慮您的現金狀況？從現在到那時是否需要任何利率？或者你有信心能夠達到那個職位嗎？

So our objective is still to get to cash break even on our existing resources and nothing around that thought process or approach has changed. And you could see both the actions that we've taken with the business to reduce costs, we expect will support that. Next year, as we mentioned, we think the Street models in general are about $15 million high relative to where operating expenses will be before we get started next year. In addition to that, the transaction we just did with the noteholders offers us the opportunity to pick interest next year, which gives us a really great support from the noteholders next year as we make some additional changes to the business to get ourselves on that path to profitability. So all of those factors combined together on top of what Brad mentioned is what we feel is a really robust long-term opportunity for our spatial franchises and the stability of nCounter, we think put us in a really good position to get where we need to be on our existing cash resources. Our perspective on that is unchanged.

因此，我們的目標仍然是在現有資源上實現現金收支平衡，並且思考過程或方法沒有任何改變。您可以看到我們為降低成本而採取的業務行動，我們預計這將得到支持。正如我們所提到的，明年，我們認為 Street 車型總體上比我們明年開始之前的營運費用高出 1500 萬美元左右。除此之外，我們剛剛與票據持有人進行的交易為我們提供了明年提取利息的機會，這為我們明年提供了票據持有人的大力支持，因為我們對業務進行了一些額外的改變，以讓自己走上這條道路以實現盈利。因此，除了Brad 提到的之外，所有這些因素結合在一起，我們認為這對我們的空間特許經營權和nCounter 的穩定性來說是一個非常強大的長期機會，我們認為這使我們處於一個非常有利的位置，可以達到我們需要的目標來利用我們現有的現金資源。我們對此的看法並沒有改變。

Your next question comes from the line of Baird.

你的下一個問題來自貝爾德。

Catherine Schulte here. Brad, you mentioned expecting to carry your CosMx backlog into 2024. What was the CosMx backlog at the end of the third quarter? And what do you expect it to be at the end of next year?

凱瑟琳舒爾特在這裡。 Brad，您提到希望將 CosMx 積壓訂單延續到 2024 年。第三季末的 CosMx 積壓訂單是多少？您預計明年年底會是什麼情況？

We are no longer reporting that quantifying publicly our backlog on CosMx. So I'm not sure I'm in a position to satisfy you on that. We are -- I'll say in a mode of continuing to work down the backlog. As you know, we accumulated an enormous backlog of preorders that require some customers to wait up to a year to receive their CosMx instrument, that's not a situation that we want to continue. We are steadily working down the backlog to a situation where customers would be able to receive their instrument either during the same quarter that they order the instrument or the core subsequent. So that's the trajectory we're on. We will continue to carry backlog into 2024, but certainly we don't want it to be backlog that will require long delays in customer receipts of instruments.

我們不再公開量化 CosMx 上的積壓工作。所以我不確定我是否能讓你滿意。我會說，我們正在繼續處理積壓的工作。如您所知，我們累積了大量積壓的預訂單，需要一些客戶等待長達一年才能收到他們的 CosMx 儀器，我們不想繼續這種情況。我們正在穩步減少積壓工作，使客戶能夠在訂購儀器的同一季度收到儀器或隨後收到核心。這就是我們現在的軌跡。我們將繼續將積壓訂單延續到 2024 年，但我們當然不希望積壓的訂單會導致客戶收到儀器出現長時間延遲。

And then what kind of top line growth is needed to underwrite your full year profitability in '25, with the Street revenue outlook get you there? And then just on the OpEx side, I recognize your comments on Street probably being [$15] million high. But is most of that leverage is going to come from R&D? Any sort of bridge you could give to the 2025 full year profitability would be appreciated.

那麼，根據華爾街的收入前景，您需要什麼樣的收入成長才能保證您在 25 年的全年獲利能力？然後就 OpEx 而言，我知道您對 Street 的評論可能高達 [15]000000 美元。但大部分槓桿將來自研發嗎？如果您能為實現 2025 年全年盈利能力提供任何形式的橋樑，我們將不勝感激。

I think we'll reserve comment on the revenue side until we guide in 2024, but I think that we're generally comfortable with where Street models are right now we can say that, we'll kind of more explicitly as we get into 2024. On the OpEx side, most of the leverage that we're talking about in that $15 million number is out of a combination of R&D and out of operations, which is where most of the reorganization activity occurred. So thinking about updating your models, if you're taking OpEx down, I would take most of it out of R&D and then a little bit of it supports that better gross margin number, but just comes out of the operation side of the business, which gets reported our of cost of goods sold.

我認為我們會保留對收入方面的評論，直到 2024 年給出指導，但我認為我們總體上對 Street 車型目前的狀況感到滿意，我們可以說，進入 2024 年時我們會更明確地說明這一點在營運支出方面，我們在1500 萬美元數字中討論的大部分槓桿來自研發和營運的組合，這也是大多數重組活動發生的地方。因此，考慮更新您的模型，如果您要降低營運支出，我會將大部分費用從研發中取出，然後其中一小部分支援更好的毛利率數字，但只是來自業務的營運方面，報告我們的銷售成本。

Yes and then maybe just to build on Tom's answer, Catherine. We've always said that between $200 million and $300 million in revenue was where we thought a business of our type should be breaking even. And I think Street models on 2025 are just about the midpoint of that range right now. So I think it's consistent with our past commentary.

是的，然後也許只是為了建立湯姆的答案，凱瑟琳。我們總是說，我們認為這種類型的企業應該實現收支平衡，收入在 2 億至 3 億美元之間。我認為 2025 年的街頭車型目前大約處於該範圍的中點。所以我認為這與我們過去的評論是一致的。

Your next question comes from the line of Stifel.

你的下一個問題來自斯蒂菲爾。

This is Evan on for Dan. I kind of want to dig a little bit deeper into the previous question. I mean, I think that the backlog is something that people are going to be pretty focused on. I understand maybe your peers aren't giving too much visibility to that, but I think people are -- especially with the guide down here, I think people are -- I guess, you're a little bit in a bit of a little bit different situation. And so is there any kind of commentary that you can give that to give people comfort as to how next year is going to shape up and like how you're going to exit the year. I felt like lot of the commentary I hear previously was we have this big backlog, we're probably going to exit the year with -- I think you said something similar to kind of where you were. So if you really -- if you're starting to draw that down, I think they were going to start to get a little concern as to maybe how the outlook is into next year. So anything you can give there would be really helpful.

這是埃文替補丹。我有點想更深入地研究上一個問題。我的意思是，我認為積壓是人們非常關注的事情。我知道也許你的同行並沒有對此給予太多的關注，但我認為人們是——尤其是這裡的指南，我認為人們是——我想，你有點有點過分了情況有點不同。那麼，您是否可以發表任何評論，讓人們對明年的情況以及您將如何結束這一年感到安慰。我覺得我之前聽到的很多評論都是我們有這麼大的積壓，我們可能會在今年結束時——我認為你說了類似的話。因此，如果你真的 - 如果你開始降低這一點，我認為他們會開始有點擔心明年的前景如何。所以你能提供的任何東西都會非常有幫助。

So sorry to disappoint, we're not going to be overly quantitative on backlog, most companies choose not to be and we'll provide commentary, I think, about sort of the market potential here and the ongoing growth and orders, which I think as you can see, both across NanoString's reported results and that of our primary competitor, this is a market of extraordinary growth. I mean I think we're seeing a kind of pace of total instrument placement that has hardly been seen in any product category in the history of our industry. I think you're seeing two companies simultaneously reporting greater than 200% year-on-year growth in revenue. So and NanoString is neck-and-neck with our competitor and fighting for market leadership here. And I think that kind of leadership in a market of very strong secular growth is the primary thing that customers should be looking at to gain confidence on our outlook.

很抱歉讓您失望，我們不會過度量化積壓訂單，大多數公司選擇不這樣做，我認為我們將提供有關這裡的市場潛力以及持續增長和訂單的評論，我認為正如您所看到的，無論是NanoString 報告的結果還是我們主要競爭對手的結果，這是一個快速成長的市場。我的意思是，我認為我們正在看到一種整體儀器放置的速度，這在我們行業歷史上的任何產品類別中都很少見。我認為您會看到兩家公司同時報告收入同比增長超過 200%。因此，NanoString 與我們的競爭對手並駕齊驅，並正在爭奪市場領導地位。我認為，在長期成長非常強勁的市場中，這種領導力是客戶應該關注的首要問題，以對我們的前景充滿信心。

I mean if you not want to give any commentary about the backlog, is there any you guys can say about orders in the quarter and how that kind of was up sequentially or year-over-year comparison, maybe that would be helpful in terms of framing where things are versus last quarter?

我的意思是，如果您不想對積壓訂單發表任何評論，您可以談談本季度的訂單以及訂單的連續增長或同比比較，也許這會有所幫助與上季度相比，情況如何？

Evan, again, I'm going to disappoint you here, we're no longer and haven't been reporting order trends in quite some time on our spatial biology business. Other than to say, we felt really good about the order trend, it was robust and we're pleased with how things are going.

埃文，我再次讓你失望了，我們已經很久沒有報告我們的空間生物學業務的訂單趨勢了。除此之外，我們對訂單趨勢感覺非常好，它很強勁，我們對事情的進展感到滿意。

Your next question comes from the line of Canaccord Genuity.

您的下一個問題來自 Canaccord Genuity 系列。

This is Alex Vukasin on for Kyle Mikson. One quick question. Just to kind of dive into the recent legal proceedings. I was just curious if those have had a meaningful impact on content placements and on the order book over the past quarter?

我是亞歷克斯·武卡辛 (Alex Vukasin) 替補凱爾·米克森 (Kyle Mikson)。一個簡單的問題。只是為了深入了解最近的法律訴訟。我只是好奇這些是否對過去季度的內容投放和訂單產生了有意義的影響？

I think your question was at the most recent UPC proceedings had an impact on the order book or the demand over the last quarter? So the answer is yes and no. Yes, within the European countries, of course, are being enjoined from selling our CosMx instrument for RNA assays has slowed down the pace of new orders coming out of Europe for CosMx and we've experienced a handful of order cancellations from customers who had not yet received their CosMx instrument for RNA and of course, now could not do so. So that has had an impact.

我認為您的問題是最近的 UPC 程序對訂單簿或上一季的需求有影響嗎？所以答案是肯定和否定。是的，當然，在歐洲國家/地區，我們被禁止銷售我們的用於RNA 檢測的CosMx 儀器，這減緩了來自歐洲的CosMx 新訂單的速度，並且我們遇到了一些未購買CosMx 的客戶取消訂單的情況。尚未收到用於 RNA 的 CosMx 儀器，當然，現在不能這樣做。所以這已經產生了影響。

But I'm pleased to say that, that impact has not spilled over into other markets. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, while instrument orders slowed down in Europe, the robustness of the North American markets continue to drive the overall momentum of our spatial biology franchise.

但我很高興地說，這種影響尚未蔓延到其他市場。正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，雖然歐洲的儀器訂單放緩，但北美市場的穩健性繼續推動我們空間生物學業務的整體勢頭。

And one, I just wanted to kind of build off the last question there. So just curious on how you intend to grow placements in '24. I guess just given like micro headwinds or whatnot, like there are some initiatives that have been coming into play in the near future or some marketing efforts, anything of that sort?

第一，我只是想進一步探討最後一個問題。所以只是好奇你打算如何在 24 年增加展示位置。我想只是考慮到諸如微逆風之類的因素，例如在不久的將來會採取一些舉措或進行一些行銷努力，諸如此類的事情？

Well, as I said and maybe the answer to an earlier question, we're seeing a market that in spatial biology that has extraordinarily -- extraordinary secular growth, I mean we're in a major adoption cycle of a new form of science. And these kind of new revolutions that are often declared nature of method of a year, they play out over a 7 to 10-year time frame. So, we're right in the steep part of the curve of the adoption cycle here. So I think the secular growth of spatial biology will be the most important driver of continued momentum in 2024.

好吧，正如我所說，也許是對先前問題的答案，我們看到空間生物學市場具有非凡的長期增長，我的意思是我們正處於一種新科學形式的主要採用週期中。這些新的革命通常被宣佈為一年的方法，但它們會在 7 到 10 年的時間範圍內發生。因此，我們正處於採用週期曲線的陡峭部分。因此，我認為空間生物學的長期成長將成為 2024 年持續發展動能的最重要驅動力。

Of course, on top of that, we have a very exciting series of product launches and a road map to support them that we should keep customers interested in our technology at the forefront. The most important of those is the launch of our CosMx 6000 plex RNA assay, which will put our technology at 12x to 15x higher plex than the competition. There's already tremendous customer interest in that and that will become available for shipment in the first quarter.

當然，最重要的是，我們有一系列非常令人興奮的產品發布和支援它們的路線圖，我們應該讓客戶對我們最前沿的技術感興趣。其中最重要的是我們的 CosMx 6000 plex RNA 檢測的推出，這將使我們的技術的 plex 比競爭對手高 12 至 15 倍。客戶對此已經產生了巨大的興趣，並將在第一季發貨。

And then on the GeoMx side, the recently launched GeoMx IO Proteome Atlas, which is 5x higher plex than the other protein panels offered by other companies is driving a resurgence and interest in that platform. So I think the secular interest in spatial biology, combined with our specific and compelling product offerings should be the key drivers of growth in 2024 on the instrument side.

然後在 GeoMx 方面，最近推出的 GeoMx IO Proteome Atlas 的複雜度比其他公司提供的其他蛋白質組高 5 倍，正在推動該平台的復興和興趣。因此，我認為對太空生物學的長期興趣，加上我們具體且引人注目的產品組合，應該成為 2024 年儀器方面成長的關鍵驅動力。

And then, I guess, maybe finally, we placed a tremendous number of CosMx instruments during 2023 that will just be becoming active and utilizing consumables in 2024. And so we expect to see that -- we expect that to drive spatial consumable growth, which has the benefit of also expanding our gross margins in the way that Tom alluded to in his prepared remarks. So I think those are the 3 big catalysts, the CosMx 6000, the GeoMx IPA and the activation and consumer utilization of our rapidly growing spatial biology installed base.

然後，我想，也許最終，我們在2023 年期間放置了大量CosMx 儀器，這些儀器將在2024 年變得活躍並使用消耗品。因此，我們期望看到這一點- 我們預計這將推動空間消耗品的成長，這這樣做的好處是還可以按照湯姆在他準備好的講話中提到的方式擴大我們的毛利率。所以我認為這就是三大催化劑：CosMx 6000、GeoMx IPA 以及我們快速成長的空間生物學安裝基礎的活化和消費者利用。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of UBS.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自UBS 專線。

You have Christian on for John. I guess starting off on the CosMx in Europe. I know you guys previously put out some, I guess, you could say work rounds in terms of having customers kind of shift their samples to CROs in jurisdictions not affected by the injection. I was just wondering if you can give any update and maybe even if you can maybe possibly like quantify how well that's working, the customer reception to that, how it's been, et cetera?

你讓克里斯蒂安代替約翰。我想從歐洲的 CosMx 開始。我知道你們之前提出了一些，我猜，你們可以說是讓客戶將樣品轉移到不受注射影響的司法管轄區的 CRO 方面的變通辦法。我只是想知道您是否可以提供任何更新，甚至您是否可以量化其運作情況、客戶對此的接受情況、情況如何等等？

Yes, so we obviously want science in Europe to continue to benefit from our market-leading content spatial molecular imager. We think it would be a tragedy for European science if they were constrained to work on the less flexible offerings of our competitors. So we're working as flexibly as we can with those groups to help them get access to our technology by shipping samples to either CROs or to NanoString located, so those samples can be processed where there's no injunctions. And I had said we've had modest success on that. I think a number of our customers are still in the process of figuring out how best to do that. And our customers have been very supportive of the company. And I'd say, overall, the scientific community is rooting for NanoString to succeed in our litigation and to maintain choice in the marketplace.

是的，所以我們顯然希望歐洲的科學繼續受益於我們市場領先的內容空間分子成像儀。我們認為，如果歐洲科學界被迫研究我們競爭對手的靈活性較差的產品，那將是一場悲劇。因此，我們正在盡可能靈活地與這些團體合作，透過將樣品運送到 CRO 或 NanoString 所在地來幫助他們獲得我們的技術，以便這些樣品可以在沒有禁令的情況下處理。我說過我們在這方面取得了一定的成功。我認為我們的許多客戶仍在研究如何最好地做到這一點。我們的客戶一直都非常支持公司。我想說，總體而言，科學界支持 NanoString 在我們的訴訟中取得成功並保持市場選擇。

I don't think I can really be too quantitative about that. I think overall it's fair to say whatever commerce results from those types of activities is going to be a modest part of our overall mix. The primary driver of our growth will be the continued sale of our technologies into those major markets that are not enjoined. And just as a reminder, I think we issued this kind of important fact at the time of the UPC injunction. The nations -- the 17 countries that are part of that UPC jurisdiction only account for about 10% or less of our overall CosMx demand and backlog. So it's -- while it's obviously a headwind, it's not one that should overall change the overall shape of the market.

我認為我對此不能太定量。我認為總的來說，可以公平地說，這些類型的活動產生的任何商業結果都將是我們整體組合的一小部分。我們成長的主要驅動力將是繼續向那些不受禁令影響的主要市場銷售我們的技術。提醒一下，我認為我們在 UPC 禁令發佈時發布了此類重要事實。這些國家—屬於 UPC 管轄範圍的 17 個國家/地區僅占我們 CosMx 整體需求和積壓的 10% 左右或更少。因此，雖然這顯然是一種逆風，但它不會從整體上改變市場的整體形態。

And then switching gears, I know China isn't the most material geography for your revenue mix. But can you give us some color on what you have been seeing over there? And then also just on -- it looks like just throughout time, you guys have been changing the mix in terms of the CosMx from primarily academic, it's still primarily academic but biopharma and biopharma CROs are becoming a bigger mix of that pie. Is that a -- is the primary driver of that actually like more CROs, buying instruments, demand from that side? Or are you seeing anything on the academic where sales cycles have been slowing and then maybe purchasing hasn't been up to previous levels, if that makes sense.

然後換個角度，我知道中國並不是你們收入組合中最重要的地理位置。但是你能給我們一些關於你在那裡看到的情況的資訊嗎？然後，看起來一直以來，你們一直在改變 CosMx 的組合，從主要是學術性的，它仍然主要是學術性的，但生物製藥和生物製藥 CRO 正在成為更大的組合。這是否是主要驅動因素，實際上是更多的 CRO、購買儀器、來自那邊的需求？或者您是否在學術上看到任何銷售週期放緩的情況，然後採購可能沒有達到以前的水平（如果這是有道理的）。

Yes, let me take the biopharma slide and then I'm going to ask Tom to take the China piece. On the biopharma front, yes, we are pleased to see an increase in interest in the CosMx system from the biopharma community. I'd say overall, the translational research and biopharma communities have been slower adopters of non-spatial single cell technologies, but yes, I believe we're starting to see that tick up and single cell spatial technologies are ticking up right alongside it.

是的，讓我先講生物製藥幻燈片，然後我要請湯姆講中國部分。在生物製藥方面，是的，我們很高興看到生物製藥界對 CosMx 系統的興趣增加。我想說，總的來說，轉化研究和生物製藥界對非太空單細胞技術的採用速度較慢，但是，是的，我相信我們開始看到單細胞空間技術正在隨之發展。

CROs are, I think, a very great avenue for biopharma companies to access technologies that they're not 100% sure they want to scale internally yet, especially smaller, more cash-constrained biopharma companies who would be reluctant to spend $300,000 on a piece of capital equipment. So CROs have been a really great avenue for us to bring spatial biology to those segments of the market.

我認為，對於生物製藥公司來說，CRO 是獲取那些他們還不能100% 確定想要在內部擴展的技術的一個非常好的途徑，特別是那些規模較小、現金更加緊張的生物製藥公司，他們不願意在一件產品上花費30 萬美元資本設備。因此，CRO 一直是我們將空間生物學引入這些細分市場的一個非常好的途徑。

Tom, maybe you can take the question on China trend?

Tom，也許你可以回答有關中國趨勢的問題？

On China, it's less than 10% of our revenue. It's consistent with what it was last quarter. And I would be, I think, remiss we would be to draw any macro trends from our sales in China. We've got a relatively new sales effort there. It's just I would say -- we're just too small portion of our revenue and our overall business and the dollar as a whole for us to draw any macro trends from it. But it doesn't -- if you just look at it in and of itself, it does -- it hasn't been -- our sales have been pretty consistent as a percentage of the total in China over the last several periods.

在中國，這不到我們收入的 10%。這與上季的情況一致。我認為，如果我們從中國的銷售中得出任何宏觀趨勢，那就是失職了。我們在那裡開展了相對較新的銷售工作。我只是想說——我們在我們的收入、我們的整體業務以及整個美元中所佔的比例太小，我們無法從中得出任何宏觀趨勢。但事實並非如此——如果你只看它本身，它確實——事實並非如此——過去幾個時期我們的銷售額佔中國總銷售額的百分比相當穩定。

Your next question comes from the line of Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利。

This is Edmonds. Just wanted to ask you quickly, Brad, how has the CosMx ASP been trending lately? Was this a meaningful driver of the lower gross margins in third quarter? And how should we be thinking about the CosMx ASP in '24, given that on the last call you noted ASPs have been improving, but you're still continuing some of your discounting tactics.

這是埃德蒙茲。 Brad，我只是想快速問一下您，CosMx ASP 最近的趨勢如何？這是第三季毛利率下降的重要推動因素嗎？我們應該如何考慮 24 年的 CosMx ASP，因為在上次通話中您指出 ASP 一直在改善，但您仍在繼續實施一些折扣策略。

I'm going to let Tom answer that question, Edmond.

我要讓湯姆回答這個問題，艾德蒙。

Yes, our ASPs were up a bit in Q3 over Q2, so we're up just over [$230 million] on ASP. It's a little bit less than we had originally expected and I wouldn't say that's necessarily due to any sort of overall broad pricing pressure, that's just how the shipments that shook out during the quarter. It is a little bit lower than what was originally planned. We would still continue to expect those to rise in coming quarters as there have been rising list prices across all of the competitors in this marketplace, as well as the continued popularity of these products puts us in a position where pricing isn't really the key driver for these instrument. So I think as we get into next year, it probably should go up, but if I were modeling based on ASP alone, I think you could use $230 million as a good number where we were in Q3 for your models for next year.

是的，我們的平均售價在第三季比第二季略有上升，因此我們的平均售價略高於 [2.3 億美元]。這比我們最初的預期要少一些，我不會說這一定是由於任何整體廣泛的定價壓力，這就是本季出貨量的波動。比原計劃低一些。我們仍然繼續預計未來幾個季度的價格將會上漲，因為這個市場上所有競爭對手的標價都在上漲，而且這些產品的持續受歡迎使我們處於一個定價並不是真正關鍵的位置這些儀器的驅動程序。因此，我認為，當我們進入明年時，它可能應該會上升，但如果我僅基於 ASP 進行建模，我認為您可以使用 2.3 億美元作為明年第三季模型的一個不錯的數字。

And then switching gears a little bit to looking at your CosMx panel, I was wondering if you guys could provide some color on the mix of health or how your users are deciding which panels to use? I know you guys have the 1000 panel, you guys have a human IO 100 plex panel and a mouse panel. I guess I'm trying to figure out with the upcoming 6000 panel next year, what are your expectations for 1000 panel usage?

然後稍微切換一下，看看你的 CosMx 面板，我想知道你們是否可以提供一些關於健康組合的顏色，或者你的用戶如何決定使用哪些面板？我知道你們有 1000 面板、人類 IO 100 plex 面板和滑鼠面板。我想我想弄清楚明年即將推出的 6000 面板，您對 1000 面板的使用有何期望？

Yes, what we've seen every time, Edmond, that we provide a new panel of higher plex is that it does tend to cannibalize the lower plex panels. And that's consistent with my prepared remarks where I characterize scientists as having a huge foam or fear of missing out. Scientists are paranoid that if they don't include a gene in their panel, they'll somehow miss the most important insight. And as a result, more plex is generally better. So just to take the couple of panel that you mentioned, when we initially developed a 100 plex IO panel, we thought there would be great demand for that on the system, it could run a lot faster than the 1000 plex and it's more cost effective. There's been virtually 0 demand for that panel. The 1000 plex human panel today is by far our most popular panel followed by, I'm sure what will be good demand for the mouse panel as it's coming to market. Human accounts for the majority of the type of science that most of our customers do because they're focused on human translational biology, so that's most of it.

是的，Edmond，每次我們提供更高層數的新面板時，我們都會看到它確實會蠶食較低層數的面板。這與我準備好的言論是一致的，我將科學家描述為有巨大的泡沫或害怕錯過。科學家偏執地認為，如果他們的面板中不包含某個基因，他們就會以某種方式錯過最重要的見解。因此，越複雜通常越好。就拿你提到的幾個面板來說，當我們最初開發100 plex IO 面板時，我們認為系統上對此會有很大的需求，它的運行速度比1000 plex 快得多，而且更具成本效益。該面板的需求幾乎為零。今天的 1000 plex 人體面板是迄今為止我們最受歡迎的面板，其次是滑鼠面板，我確信隨著滑鼠面板的上市，它將會有良好的需求。在我們大多數客戶所做的科學類型中，人類佔了大部分，因為他們專注於人類轉化生物學，所以這就是大部分。

But I would expect that as we bring the 6000 plex to market, we may very well see a rapid transition towards that higher plex panel even at a price premium because customers are interested in making sure they're not missing important biology.

但我預計，當我們將 6000 plex 推向市場時，我們很可能會看到向更高 plex 面板的快速過渡，即使價格較高，因為客戶有興趣確保他們不會錯過重要的生物學。

And then, Brad, it's good to hear a strong early feedback for your immuno-oncology Proteome Atlas for the GeoMx. What are your contribution expectations for this in '24? And how should we be thinking about, I guess, GeoMx consumable revenue growth in the upcoming year?

Brad，很高興聽到針對 GeoMx 的免疫腫瘤學蛋白質組圖譜的強烈早期回饋。您在 24 年對此有何貢獻期望？我想我們應該如何考慮來年的 GeoMx 消費品收入成長？

Yes, it's a really good question, Edmond. I think we're going to hold off on providing quantitative feedback on that until we do our 2024 guide. But I will say, protein is a very popular application for GeoMx. Historically, it's been half of our samples, but much less than half of the revenue because the average unit price of a protein panel at 50 plex is less than the average unit price of our whole transcriptome Atlas. That will change with the IO Proteome Atlas. It's priced at a premium to our whole transcriptome atlas because there's really nothing like it in the world. And so I think that bodes well for the potential pull-through on our existing installed base and I'm excited about the early resurgence and interest in acquiring GeoMx instruments that has resulted from this new capability. But it's a little too early to quantify that. We'll provide an update on our February call in more detail.

是的，這是一個非常好的問題，埃德蒙。我認為我們將推遲提供定量回饋，直到我們制定 2024 年指南。但我要說的是，蛋白質是 GeoMx 的一個非常流行的應用。從歷史上看，它佔了我們樣本的一半，但遠低於收入的一半，因為 50 plex 蛋白質組的平均單價低於我們整個轉錄組圖譜的平均單價。 IO 蛋白質體圖譜將改變這種情況。它的價格比我們整個轉錄組圖譜的價格要高，因為世界上真的沒有類似的東西。因此，我認為這對我們現有安裝基礎的潛在拉動來說是個好兆頭，我對這種新功能帶來的早期復甦和購買 GeoMx 儀器的興趣感到興奮。但現在量化這一點還為時過早。我們將更詳細地提供二月電話會議的最新情況。

We have no further questions in our queue at this time. I will now turn the call over to Doug Farrell for closing remarks.

目前我們的隊列中沒有其他問題。我現在將把電話轉給道格法雷爾（Doug Farrell）做總結發言。

Thanks again for joining us today. If you did miss any portion of the call, a replay should be posted in about 2 hours from now. Domestic callers, please use 800-770-2030, international callers please dial 647-362-9199. The conference ID is 72369. Thanks again. That concludes our call.

再次感謝您今天加入我們。如果您確實錯過了通話的任何部分，重播應該會在大約 2 小時後發布。國內撥打請撥800-770-2030，國際電洽請撥647-362-9199。會議ID是72369，再次感謝。我們的通話到此結束。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。