Brian Marckx, CFA
A New Opportunity for CryoPort?
Privately-held BioStorage Technologies, which bills itself as "the premier global provider of comprehensive sample management and onsite solutions for the bioscience industry" (which in layman's terms means they are a leader in biomaterials storage, handling and logistics) announced yesterday (5/26/11) that they opened a new 60,000 sf facility in Indianapolis. Indianapolis is becoming known as the Mecca for life-sciences warehousing and logistics and BioStorage's new facility just happens to be within spitting distance of FedEx's second largest U.S. largest hub.
BioStorage, while maybe not a household name, is a big fish in life-sciences storage and shipping circles. The company houses a significant portion of the clinical trial sample repository for Biogen Idec (BIIB) and also counts Medtronic (MDT) as a large customer.
BioStorage's services include on-site storage, shipping and logistics for multiple storage ranges, including cryogenic and notes that their "cold chain logistics team handles hundreds of shipments a week and millions of samples worldwide." The company, which caters to pharmas, biotechs and contract research organizations, built the new facility in large part to leverage growth in demand for biological drug development (i.e. – CryoPort's target markets).
BioStorage's facilities (they also have one in Germany) house temperature-controlled storage units and their proprietary tracking system allows customers to monitor their samples inventory and track shipments. BioStorage notes that their proprietary tracking and reporting software, called ISISS, can be linked with other proprietary systems.
BioStorage is in the business of taking the hassle of cold-chain shipping and storage out of the hands of life sciences companies. They are essentially the middle-men between where the samples are collected (clinical trial sites) and where they are processed and analyzed (BioStorage just recently introduced some processing services as well).
So what does this have to do with CryoPort?
BioStorage is involved in all the cold-chain shipping prep work but as far as we can tell (being privately-held, there is limited information about the company) they outsource for all of their shipping container needs. They also have a vested interest in their customers (i.e. – large pharmas, biotech companies, CRO's, etc.) utilizing containers with low risk of sample degradation. BioStorage makes "hundreds of shipments a week" and their new facility, as noted in the company's press release, is "Strategically placed near the second largest FedEx hub in the United States…" FedEx just recently began emphasizing its healthcare shipping services, launching its website dedicated to temperature controlled shipping in mid-May (with CryoPort's Express Shippers boldly displayed). All of this, combined with the ability to integrate BioStorage's proprietary software with that of others, and this sounds like a potential opportunity for both Biostorage and CryoPort (CYRX).
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