Harvard Bioscience, Inc. operates as a developer, manufacturer and seller of technologies, products and services that enable fundamental advances in life science applications, including research, drug and therapy discovery, bioproduction and preclinical testing for pharmaceutical and therapy development.
The company's products and services are sold globally to customers ranging from renowned academic institutions and government laboratories to the world's leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology a...
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. operates as a developer, manufacturer and seller of technologies, products and services that enable fundamental advances in life science applications, including research, drug and therapy discovery, bioproduction and preclinical testing for pharmaceutical and therapy development.
The company's products and services are sold globally to customers ranging from renowned academic institutions and government laboratories to the world's leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and contract research organizations ('CROs'). With operations in the United States, Europe and China, the company sells through a combination of direct and distribution channels to customers around the world.
The company derives a significant portion of its revenues from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and CROs serving these companies.
Strategy
In 2018, the company acquired Data Sciences International, Inc. (“DSI”), a global leader in products, services and solutions focused on preclinical testing. The DSI product portfolio, which is largely complementary to its cellular and molecular technology (“CMT”) product portfolio, expanded its product portfolio to address the continuum from research and discovery to preclinical testing with principal applications in drug and therapy testing.
The company’s strategy for driving revenue growth is focused in the following three areas.
First, the company intends to maintain and strengthen its established base business in the areas of therapy research and pre-clinical testing. This includes expanding its product offerings to address the needs of higher-volume industrial customers such as CROs, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and government laboratories engaged in the development and testing of new therapeutics, where the ability to reduce costs and improve cycle times in pre-clinical testing has the potential to drive additional demand.
Second, the company is expanding its product offerings for biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers in the field of bioproduction, where there are opportunities to provide innovative products and services that bridge from research and development to production in applications that scale with production volume.
Third, the company is expanding its product offerings in the emerging field of organoid research and testing. Organoids, which serve as in vitro models that emulate human organs, provide new opportunities for academic research and for streamlined testing early in the pharmaceutical development cycle, especially in the area of neurological and cardiac research and testing. The company’s microelectrode array products, including its recently introduced MeshMEA system, will be attractive to a range of customers, including academic researchers, as well as biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and CRO customers engaged in therapy, discovery, development and testing.
In 2024, the company also consolidated its enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) system in the United States.
Products
The company's products, consumables, software and services enable fundamental advances in life science applications, including research, pharmaceutical and therapy discovery, bioproduction and preclinical testing.
The company has organized its product line activities into two product families, CMT and Preclinical. The coompany’s CMT product family is primarily composed of products supporting research related to molecular, cellular, organ, and organoid technologies. The company’s CMT products also have applications in the emerging field of bioproduction of pharmaceuticals and therapeutics, as well as in in vitro testing of cell lines and organoids in therapy development. The principal customers for the company’s CMT products include academic and government laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and CROs. The company’s Preclinical product family includes products that support the preclinical research and testing phase for drug development, particularly testing related to data collection and analysis for safety and regulatory compliance. Preclinical products are primarily sold to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and CROs, as well as to larger academic laboratories.
The company’s solutions range from simple to complex, and generally consist of hardware/firmware and software products, augmented with consumables, options, upgrades and post-sales (scientific, installation and data) services. Sales prices of these products and services range typically from $1,000 to over $100,000.
Below is a description of each product family.
Cellular and Molecular Technologies (CMT) Product Family
The company’s CMT product family includes products designed primarily to support academic research and the discovery phase of new drug development. The CMT product family includes the Harvard Apparatus, Biochrom, BTX, HEKA, KD Scientific, MCS and Warner brands. CMT products include:
Electroporation and electrofusion instruments, including the bioproduction configuration of the company’s BTX electroporation system, which leverages the company’s electroporation technology to bridge from therapy to production in the emerging field of bioproduction;
Amino acid analyzers, which support protein analysis of buffers and solutions in clinical and bioproduction environments;
Spectrophotometers and other equipment which primarily support molecular level testing and research;
High precision syringe and peristaltic pumps for infusion applications in research;
Precision scientific measuring instrumentation and equipment in the field of electrophysiology such as: data acquisition systems with custom amplifier configurations for cellular analysis, complete micro electrode array solutions for in vivo recordings and in vitro systems for extracellular recordings; and
The company’s recently introduced MeshMEA system, which builds on its existing micro-electrode array technology to support the emerging field of organoid research, especially in the areas of cardiac and neurological research and testing.
Sales of the company’s CMT product family made up approximately 49% of its global revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Preclinical Product Family
The company’s Preclinical product family provides a complete platform to assess physiological data from organisms for research ranging from basic research to drug discovery, and drug development services. The Preclinical product family includes the DSI, Panlab, Hugo Sachs and Buxco brands. It includes:
Implantable and externally worn telemetry systems, which are commonly used in research to collect cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory, metabolic data, including the company’s new soho Small Animal Implantable Telemetry System that enables data collection in high-density group housing environments;
Behavioral products, isolated organ and surgical products, a broad range of instruments and accessories for tissue, organ-based lab research, including surgical products, infusion systems, and behavior research systems;
Turn-key respiratory system solutions encompassing plethysmograph chambers, data acquisition hardware, physiological signal analysis software, and final report generation;
Inhalation and exposure systems providing precise, homogenous aerosol delivery for up to 42 subjects, while integrating respiratory parameters for the ultimate delivered dose system;
GLP-capable data acquisition and analysis systems, capable of integrating third party sensors for a more comprehensive study design; and
The company’s VivaMars behavioral monitoring system, launched in 2023, which is directed to the high throughput testing needs of higher-volume industrial customers such as CROs, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and government laboratories engaged in the development and testing of new therapeutics.
Sales of the company’s Preclinical product family made up approximately 51% of its global revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Other Products
In addition to the company’s proprietarily manufactured products, it distributes products developed by other manufacturers. Resale of such products enables the company to act as a single source for its customers’ research needs. They primarily consist of instruments or accessories, as well as consumables used in experiments involving fluid handling, molecular and cell analysis, and tissue, organ, and animal research. Sales of third-party products that the company distributes accounted for approximately 12% of its revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Customers
The company’s end-user customers are primarily pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, hospitals, government laboratories, including laboratories operated by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Army and CROs. The company’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers include pharmaceutical companies and research laboratories, such as Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Glaxo Smith Kline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer and Regeneron. The company’s academic customers include colleges and universities, such as Baylor College of Medicine, Cambridge University, Harvard University, Imperial College of London, Johns Hopkins University, Stanford, the University of California system, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of Texas and Yale University. The company’s CRO customers include Charles River Laboratories, Labcorp and Wuxi AppTec.
Sales
The company conducts direct sales and sales through distributors in the United States, China, and major European markets. It engages distributors for the sales of its own branded and private label products in certain areas of the world and for specific product lines. For the year ended December 31, 2024, revenues from direct sales to end-users represented approximately 63% of the company's revenues; and revenues from sales of its products through distributors represented approximately 37% of its revenues.
Marketing
The company’s marketing activities encompass product management and marketing communications. Marketing maintains value-proposition based product roadmaps, collaborates with research and development on timing and investment for new products, develops marketing and sales strategies, supports direct and distributor sales activities, and sets the global pricing of its products. The company’s marketing team also maintains digital presence across the web and social media platforms, creates electronic leads and analyzes opportunities for new product portfolio extensions. The company’s websites and marketing collateral serve as the primary sales tool for its product lines, which includes both proprietary manufactured products and complementary products from various suppliers.
Research and Development
The company’s research and development expenses were approximately $10.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Competition
The company competes with several companies that provide products for life science research, including Agilent, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Danaher Corporation, Emka Technologies, Eppendorf AG, Hitachi, Instem plc, Kent Scientific Corporation, Lonza Group Ltd., PerkinElmer, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., TSE Systems, and Waters Corporation.
Seasonality
Sales and earnings in the company's third quarter (year ended December 2024) are usually flat or down from the second quarter primarily because there are a large number of holidays and vacations during such quarter, especially in Europe. The company's fourth quarter revenues and earnings are often the highest in any fiscal year compared to the other three quarters, primarily because many of the company's customers tend to spend budgeted money before their own fiscal year ends.
Intellectual Property
‘Harvard’ is a registered trademark of Harvard University. The marks ‘Harvard Apparatus’ and ‘Harvard Bioscience’ are being used pursuant to a license agreement entered into in December 2002 between the company and Harvard University.
Government Regulation
Other than the company’s amino acid analyzer products, which are registered with, but otherwise exempt from the United States Food and Drug Administration, or the U.S. FDA, pre-clearance requirements, its products are not subject to pre-market clearance or approval by the U.S. FDA for use on human clinical patients. In addition, the company is materially in compliance with all relevant environmental laws.
History
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. was founded in 1901. The company was incorporated in 2000.
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