Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the BioLife Solutions, Inc. Q4 2025 Shareholder and Analyst Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Troy Wichterman, Chief Financial Officer of BioLife Solutions, Inc. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the BioLife Solutions, Inc. 2025 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. On this call, we will cover business highlights, financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year 2025, and provide 2026 financial guidance. Earlier today, we issued a press release announcing our financial results and operational highlights for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025 and provided 2026 financial guidance, which is available at biolifesolutions.com. As a reminder, during this call, we will make forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that can be found in our SEC filings. These statements speak only as of the date given and we undertake no obligation to update them. Unless otherwise noted, all financial measures discussed reflect non-GAAP or adjusted results. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP or adjusted financial metrics are included in a press release we issued this afternoon. Now I would like to turn the call over to Roderick de Greef, Chairman and CEO of BioLife Solutions, Inc.

Thanks, Troy. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for BioLife Solutions, Inc.'s fourth quarter and full year 2025 conference call. 2025 was another strong year for BioLife Solutions, Inc., delivering double-digit revenue growth, operating margin expansion, and improved profitability. Throughout the year, we executed consistently against our key strategic priorities, advanced our efforts to reposition the portfolio, and strengthened the foundation to scale the business for years ahead. We exit the year simpler, more focused, and structurally stronger. With the divestiture of our EVO product line behind us, we enter 2026 with a strong balance sheet and a fully optimized portfolio that plays to our strengths and positions BioLife Solutions, Inc. to drive sustainable, profitable growth and shareholder value. Compared to 2024, our 2025 results from continuing operations demonstrate our increasingly attractive financial profile, which is driven by the culmination of our multiyear strategic transformation, a streamlined portfolio centered on market-leading consumables, and sustained growth from our commercial CGT customers, which reinforces our positioning to benefit from the continued growth and maturity of our end market. On the top line, total revenue grew 29% to $96 million, landing at the high end of our guidance, which was raised twice in the second half of the year. While gross margin experienced a decline year over year, primarily reflecting product mix and lower bag yields in the second half, operating leverage more than offset this impact and contributed to an increase in adjusted EBITDA of $25 million, or 26% of revenue, up from $13 million, or 18% in 2024. In the fourth quarter, total revenue reached $24.8 million, increasing 20% year over year, driven primarily by continued strength in our biopreservation media, or BPM, franchise with broad-based growth across our entire cell processing tools portfolio. Turning to Q4 revenue composition,…

Thank you, Rod. Today, we will be reviewing current and prior period financials from continuing operations for Q4 and full year 2025 and providing 2026 financial guidance. Unless otherwise noted, all financial measures discussed reflect adjusted non-GAAP measures. Before we start with the financials, I am pleased to report we implemented our ERP manufacturing modules in February with no disruption to operations. This module allows for greater automated processes and controls in our manufacturing, quality, and accounting functions. This, in turn, provides a systematic foundation and automated processes to leverage into our planned growth. As shared in our press release today, we reported total Q4 revenue of $24.8 million, representing an increase of 20% over the prior year, and full-year revenue of $96.2 million, representing an increase of 29% over the prior year. The year-over-year increase in both periods primarily related to increased demand for biopreservation media from our customers with commercially approved therapies. For the full year 2025, we had growth across all product lines except our HPL media business, which was flat year over year due to certain import restrictions in China, which have since been abated. Adjusted gross margin for Q4 2025 was $15.8 million, or 64%, compared with $14.0 million, or 67%, in the prior year. Full-year adjusted gross margin was $63.2 million, or 66%, compared with $51.4 million, or 69%, in the prior year. The decrease in adjusted gross margin as a percentage of revenue in both periods was due to a continuing product mix shift toward bags, which carry lower gross margins than bottles, and we had lower-than-anticipated bag yields in the second half of the year. Improving bag yields is a clear operational priority as we enter 2026. Adjusted operating expenses for Q4 2025 totaled $14.7 million compared with $13.8 million in the…

We will now open for questions. The first question comes from Matthew Stanton with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Maybe just to kick off for the guide, any more color you can provide in terms of assumptions between commercial and clinical? Rod, I think you said commercial went from low-40s to the mix to about 50. Can we see a similar magnitude of uptick in 2026 on the commercial side? And then just on the clinical side, are you starting to see some of the positive biotech funding data show up in activity levels or orders from customers? Just a little more flavor on what you are starting to see on the clinical side would be helpful as well. Thanks. And then just on the bag yield impact, is there any way to quantify what that was as a headwind in terms of margins in 2025? And then, Rod, I think you talked about it as a clear priority for 2026. Can you just talk a little bit more about timing and logistics in terms of resolving the bag yield headwind you saw in the back half of the year here? Thanks.

Sure. So we had a strong increase in our commercial customer revenue as a portion of total revenue. As we mentioned, it is about 20 points—actually, sorry, a little less than 10 points. But I think it is going to be not quite that much, and I would expect our commercial customers to be somewhere between 50%–55% in 2026. With respect to the second half of your question, we are not really seeing any significant uptick. And I think the reason for that is these customers are small, Matt. And so to the extent that they are either constrained or not constrained, the amount of product they buy from us is pretty small in their early stages. So we are really not seeing any major effect of that. As for bag yields, I think it is about a 2% or three-point headwind on gross margin in the second half of the year. I believe that we have found a solution to the issue. It is a solution that requires a 90-day customer notification. So we have that piece that is, by definition, built in from a timing perspective. And then in addition to that, we have to sell through the higher-cost inventory that we have, in terms of finished product that is in bags sitting in our warehouse, before we will start to see the impact of the higher-yield bags come through, which we expect would be right around Q4 of this year.

The next question comes from Anna Snopkowski with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Hi. This is Anna on for Paul. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on a great quarter. My first question is just around the CAR-T market. It seems like we are getting better patient access with the REMS removal. I was just wondering if you have seen this impact your top line at all or just customers' outlook at all? And then could you just remind us your exposure to CAR-Ts at this point? And then, just quickly following up on your outlook for 2026, how much would you say is rooted in commercial growth versus dependent on improving macro conditions in clinical trials? Or would you say most of your outlook is towards the commercial side? Thank you.

Yes. In terms of our commercial exposure, I would say it is at least over 80% with respect to CAR-Ts at this point, if not a little bit higher. It is really hard, Anna, to try to parse out the impact of REMS first. It just happened right within the last six months or so, and I think it is going to take a while for that to flow through to an increased number of patients being treated. So while we think it is an excellent move in the right direction—because I think patient access is probably the single largest constraint to the overall adoption—I have read where 20% of people who are eligible for CAR-T are actually receiving CAR-Ts. So I think patient access is a key factor in future growth, but it is hard to try to parse it out to the point of saying we have seen anything or not seen anything. And on 2026, I think it is fair to say that the primary driver for growth this year is going to be continued growth from the commercial customers that we have.

The next question comes from Brendan Smith with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks for taking the question, guys. I actually wanted to follow up on your commentary regarding the cross-selling there. Just a little bit more. Can you maybe expound a bit on really what ultimate success kind of looks like within that initiative? And sorry if I missed it, but can you just confirm if any contribution through that is included in some of your 2026 guidance assumptions? Or should we think of that more as upside?

Well, we have a base assumption around how much of the growth of our other tools—non-biopreservation media tools—that growth, how much of that is fundamentally related to therapies with respect to, for example, on the CellSeal vial side, versus new business that we are assuming to have come in. So we are pretty clear about that split, although we will not get that granular on this call. I think the ultimate measurement or metric at this time, at least for most of this year until we get a little bit more rigorous in our own data analysis, is the growth rate related to the non-BPM tools versus BPM. And we do expect, as a basket, that the non-BPM tools will grow at a faster percentage rate than BPM, in part because it is a smaller base that we are starting from. But as we put more focus on this and our systems get up to speed, we should be able to start speaking to the number of customers that are using one of our products, two of our products, three or more of our products. And that is definitely a goal internally to pull those metrics together and then figure out a way to report that externally.

The next question comes from Steven Etoch with Stephens. Please go ahead.

Hey, good afternoon and thank you for taking my questions. Maybe one on the partnership agreement you signed earlier this year. It is a pretty interesting deal, maybe a little outside of your normal deal structure, but what can you share with us just in terms of maybe the adoption potential of that product with your CellSeal vials and all that? And secondly, what could the margins look like for that type of business?

Yes. So I am not going to speak specifically to the margins, Mac, just from a competitive perspective. But we certainly have a margin profile that reflects the volume that we anticipate to move. With respect to the combination of their cytokines and our CellSeal vials, that is probably a six- to nine-month development project right there. So we would not expect to see much in the way of that revenue, in terms of pull-through on the CellSeal vial side of things, until the end of this year, early next. But this is a long-term strategic move for us. It is not about generating X amount of revenue in 2026, although we will drive some revenue. But really it is a longer-term market segment, product category that we want to be in, and feel we can win there, and that is why we are there.

Appreciate that. And then maybe you touched on the bags being an issue in the second half of last year. But as it relates to CryoCase, do you see that as a potential opportunity to maybe reduce scrap and improve margins long term as CryoCase is adopted?

Yes. So it is important to keep in mind that the CryoCase, as it is configured today, is designed for the final product going from the developer’s factory to the patient. The rigid container—what we call the RCC—is designed and being designed to take 100 mL of our product from our factory to our customer, which is where we have the bag problem. Right? So currently, we are shipping most of our commercial product in bags from our facility to the developer’s facility, and then they drain that and they use it in their workflow. The idea would be to replace that bag on the front end, if you will, with the RCC. And we are probably 18 to 24 months away from doing that. So the remediation that I talked about is really process-oriented on our end, and I think that is going to alleviate the higher-than-average scrap that we have realized over the last six months.

The next question comes from Matthew Hewitt with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. Maybe first up, just so I heard you correctly, gross margins are still going to be weighed on a little bit here, first half of the year in particular. So we should be thinking somewhat similar in Q1 versus Q4? And then, you know, obviously, the Qkine partnership is unique—an opportunity to get into some new areas. Are you looking or exploring for more of those types of partnerships? Or are you still kicking the tires on potentially adding via acquisition? Thank you.

Yes, that is correct, and actually throughout the remainder of the year. As Rod mentioned, we do have inventory on hand, and it is going to take time to implement our strategies and our customers to adopt the new product format. So if you look at the full year, I would still expect in line with our guidance, as what we said.

Yes. I think it is all three of the things that I mentioned, which would be, you know, an outright targeted acquisition, a minority investment strategy, and/or a strategic collaboration like we have done with Qkine. And that is not to say that what we have done with Qkine is the final end step with them. As this relationship evolves into the future, as we understand how to sell that product better, it could very well be that things develop down the road with that particular company.

The next question comes from Carl Byrnes with Northland Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Yes, thanks for taking my question. Actually, most of my questions have been answered. I am just wondering if you are seeing any potential acquisitions that would be in the biopreservation area where the valuations have kind of come back to what would be more normalized attractive levels to pull the trigger? Thanks.

So, Carl, other than the Panthera acquisition, we keep a pretty close eye on what we consider to be potentially competitive technology in biopreservation. And while we are pretty rigorous in evaluating what is out there, nothing has come to our attention that would provide us with any sort of competitive advantage or value proposition that we do not already provide. That is why Panthera was unique, and that is why we made the move with it that we did.

Got it. Thanks. Congratulations again.

Thank you, Carl.

The next question comes from Michael Okunewitch with Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my questions today. I guess I would like to ask a little about the Qkine collaboration. In particular, how comprehensive is this, and are there other commonly used cytokines and growth factors for cell and gene therapy manufacturing that might be the subject of future agreements or M&A activity? And then just to follow up on that, as you are saying that there is exclusivity on a limited number of cytokines, but is that exclusivity going both ways as in terms of who else can use CellSeal for those particular cytokines, potential distribution agreements that you may enter or any acquisition, trying to see if the exclusivity is just for you or for them to you as well.

Yes. I think the short answer is yes. The deal as it stands now is specific, from an exclusivity perspective, to certain of their cytokines that we believe are geared toward the types that are used by our key customers, as well as the pipelines that they have. So that is why it is a fairly narrow exclusivity. And we do have access to a much broader number of products on a nonexclusive basis. So, again, I would reiterate that this is the first step. We spent quite some time developing the relationship, primarily through our VP of Sales who is also located in the UK and has a history with these folks. And so I would say it is step one of a number of different ways the relationship could continue to move forward. Well, right now, it is one way for us relative to their cytokines. We have a sort of loose intent between the two parties around CellSeal, so we have to pay for that still. But I anticipate, based on discussions that we have had, that it is in their interest and our interest to widely have their products sold through with the CellSeal packaging to wherever it needs to go, or wherever they would like it to go, because that benefits us and it benefits them. And it is unique to them. We do not anticipate at this point in time entering into any agreements with other cytokine manufacturers to utilize the CellSeal vial.

Alright. Thank you very much. I appreciate the additional color.

You bet.

This concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Roderick de Greef for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. In closing, we expect 2026 to be another strong year of revenue growth, operating margin expansion, and increased profitability. As the broader macro environment continues to evolve favorably, we remain focused on supporting our core BPM customer base, increasing adoption of our non-BPM products, and driving operational excellence across the organization. We are confident that our market leadership and business model position BioLife Solutions, Inc. to benefit from the secular trends developing across our growing yet still early-stage end markets, enabling us to deliver sustainable revenue growth, expanding profitability, and long-term shareholder value creation. Thank you for your time today. I look forward to seeing some of you at upcoming investor conferences.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.