Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) executives used a recent KeyBanc Capital Markets discussion to outline the company’s strategic focus following leadership changes and a debt refinancing completed late last year.
Leadership changes and portfolio focus
CEO John Duke said he has spent more than a decade in life sciences, including time at Corning’s life science business, and joined Harvard Bioscience’s board before becoming CEO in July 2025. CFO Mark Frost, who said he joined as permanent CFO “last week,” described prior roles across GE businesses and CFO positions in biotech, CDMO, med tech, and diagnostic imaging.
On portfolio management, Duke said the company and board will continue to evaluate where to “bulk up” or “prune,” while focusing on areas with significant organic and potential inorganic growth. He cited organoids—described as a market growing 15%–20%—and the company’s BTX product line used in bioprocessing. Duke also said maintaining leadership in the company’s social housing telemetry platform remains a priority.
Organoids: Mesh MEA positioning and early traction
Duke discussed Harvard Bioscience’s organoid offering, focusing on its Mesh MEA (microelectrode array) system. He named Axion BioSystems, MaxWell, and 3Brain as competitors. Duke said the company’s system uses a microelectrode array on a micron-scale mesh, allowing organoids to grow around the mesh to capture what he described as a more “true-to-life signal” compared with a two-dimensional surface. He also said the product can be used inside an incubator.
According to Duke, the company is seeing positive uptake and has expanded beyond research institutes: after an emphasis on institutes last year, the company has sold and installed systems in pharmaceutical customers this year. He said the company expects the Mesh MEA business to grow at least in line with the market growth rate, “if not more,” this year.
Asked about the shift toward cell-based research and “new approach methodologies” (NAMs) as alternatives to animal testing, Duke said this trend is complementary to the business. He added that in discussions with contract research organizations (CROs) and pharma/biotech customers, “not one” expected to do less animal testing over the next three to five years. Instead, he said customers expect to increase NAMs and correlate those results with animal data, with the longer-term intent—over a 10- to 20-year horizon—of relying more heavily on NAMs and less on animal-based testing.
Customer mix, NIH funding timing, and new-product contribution
Duke provided a breakdown of 2025 revenue mix: 50% from academic institutions, 28% from pharma and biotech, and 22% from CROs. He said 2025 was a difficult macro environment for selling into research institutes, particularly in the U.S., and estimated roughly 10% of global sales went to institutes receiving NIH funding.
Management said it expects NIH-related funding releases to benefit results more in the second quarter than the first, based on order timing and shipping cycles. Frost said the company reflected NIH impacts in its first-quarter guidance, and for the full year is “reflecting growth” with NIH expected to be at least flat to up 1% for the year.
Frost also said the company expects a larger contribution from new products, forecasting that new products will increase from about 5% of revenue to 10%. Duke identified new-product drivers as:
- Mesh MEA and the IncuB8 platform for organoid research
- SoHO (Social Housing) system for animal telemetry, including new implants planned this year
- A BTX system later this year that will be GLP and cGMP compliant, intended to support growth in the second half
In bioproduction, Duke positioned the forthcoming BTX offering as a way to scale with customers transitioning from research to production. He said established products already in production would not be the target, but compounds still in research could represent an opportunity to “scale with the customers as they scale them.”
Telemetry and preclinical trends
On telemetry, Duke described SoHO as a system that uses one transmitter/receiver hardware unit with Ponemah software to monitor up to 16 implants or 16 animals. He contrasted that with a setup in which customers may monitor one animal per cage, and said SoHO can reduce space needs, improve animal social housing, and help customers “save money and get better quality data.” Duke said SoHO launched early last year and that over the next 18 months the company plans to introduce additional Bluetooth-based implants, transitioning from several dozen legacy implants that use a different frequency.
Discussing broader preclinical demand, Duke said quarterly reviews with large pharma and large CRO customers indicate expectations for animal testing this year to be “flat to low single digits.” He also cited respiratory and inhalation products as a notable growth area, attributing increased interest since COVID to more focus on respiratory-transmitted diseases.
Frost said the company is seeing increased activity from large pharma and large biotech, and “green shoots” in small biotech, though he said that would likely impact the business in the second or third quarter as orders materialize.
Debt refinancing, distribution, and operational initiatives
Frost outlined the debt refinancing as a four-year deal that could be extended to five years at certain EBITDA thresholds. He described a $40 million term structure with multiple components, including Term Loan A ($10 million), where the lender allows Harvard Bioscience to take a first position if it pursues an asset-based lending (ABL) facility, potentially lowering interest and increasing flexibility. He also described Term Loan C ($7.5 million), which he said can be converted to equity under certain terms, and noted these features could help deleverage faster.
Frost said debt service (interest and amortization) was about $8 million last year and is expected to decline to $5 million over the next two years, generating roughly $6 million of additional cash over that period, which could be used for investment or deleveraging. He added it could decline further if an ABL is implemented or if Term Loan C converts.
On commercial execution, Duke said the company signed a distribution agreement with Fisher Scientific last fall. He noted Fisher’s North America sales meeting in late January provided an opportunity to train Fisher’s 900 sales representatives, with orders expected to begin flowing “now and into Q2,” translating into revenue starting in the second quarter.
Duke said the company’s global sales are 39% through distribution and 61% direct, supported by 45 technical salespeople (about 40% in North America, 40% in EMEA, and 20% in Asia-Pacific). Frost also addressed China, saying retaliatory tariffs last year stalled the business, but that results improved in the fourth quarter and the company expects further improvement into the second quarter, noting the timing effects of Lunar New Year on academic purchasing.
Management also discussed margin and cost initiatives. Frost said past divestitures and pruning efforts from 2021 through 2023 reduced revenue by roughly $8 million to $10 million versus 2021 levels, while improving gross margin. Duke and Frost said gross margins have been around 58%–60%, with some consumables in the 70%–80% range. Frost pointed to “Project Viking,” expected to deliver $4 million in savings primarily at the cost-of-goods line, including consolidating manufacturing into Minneapolis and shifting certain products to “centers of excellence” in Stuttgart and Cambridge, U.K.
Looking forward, Frost said the company is currently at “a little less than 10” in EBITDA margin, expects Viking to move it to the mid-teens, and said it is “realistic” to reach the low 20% level over time with revenue growth, cost discipline, and new product introductions. Duke said the company would consider acquisitions again, with criteria centered on growth areas and high recurring revenue streams.
About Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO)
Harvard Bioscience, Inc develops, manufactures and distributes life science research instruments and consumables used by academic, biopharmaceutical and government laboratories worldwide. The company’s product portfolio spans cellular physiology, microfluidics, electrophysiology and lab automation, providing tools that enable researchers to study everything from cell behavior and organ function to drug delivery and tissue mechanics.
Through its operating units—most notably Harvard Apparatus, BTX, Radnoti and Warner Instruments—Harvard Bioscience offers a diverse range of scientific equipment including precision pumps, stereotaxic instruments, electroporation and gene delivery systems, perfusion systems and microinjection tools.
