Pressure BioSciences goes full steam ahead into 2012

Life sciences company Pressure BioSciences (NASDAQ:PBIO) has seen a host of developments of late, including the successful raising of nearly $1 million and meeting its sales targets for the third quarter, putting the company on pace for steady growth in 2012.
However, the company, whose pressure cycling technology (PCT) is used to extract cell components for the preparation of a biological sample, may be among the most under-appreciated businesses listed on the Nasdaq today, said CEO Richard T. Schumacher.
Pressure BioSciences has serious growth potential as its core technology has a myriad of potential target industries, and according to Schumacher, the company has not yet entered full commercialization stage.
Schumacher, who previously founded two Nasdaq-listed biotech companies, is not the only one convinced of Pressure BioSciences' potential, as Zacks Equity Research also sees the company as undervalued, assigning it an "outperform" rating in September, and a 12-month price target of $5.00, way up from its current trading price of 59 cents.
Earlier this month, the company announced that third quarter revenue increased 47 percent sequentially as sales of the company's PCT-based Sample Preparation Systems expand. For the three months to September 30, total revenue was $280,422, compared to $190,686 for the second quarter, and up 55 percent from $180,643 in the first quarter of the year.
This met management's expectations, as in August, the company said it expected revenue for the second half of this year to be "significantly greater" than total revenue for the first half of 2011, which came in at approximately $370,000. Fourth quarter revenue is also expected to remain strong.
Revenue from PCT products totaled $217,734 in the third quarter - the highest level in the last four quarters - as the company installed 25 PCT Sample Preparation Systems in the year-to-date, eight of which were installed in the latest period.
Since the company began commercial operations in the middle of 2007, it has come a long way, releasing a number of PCT-based products geared towards the $6 billion sample preparation market, including three pressure-generating instruments named Barocyclers, a patent-pending sample homogenization device (The Shredder SG3), five types of single-use processing containers and six different, application-specific reagent kits.
Pressure BioSciences' key product, the Barocycler, is an instrument that uses rapid and repeating cycles of hydrostatic pressure at controlled temperatures, in order to extract cell components, such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids from humans, animals, and plants, in preparation for further studies.
The PBI sample preparation system has been proven to be safer, more accurate, reproducible, and much faster than current cell extraction methods - with up to 48 samples able to be processed from a wide variety of cells and tissues within minutes. The closed system, which reduces sample handling and therefore minimizes exposure to toxins for scientists, also works with computer-controlled protocols that ensure consistent sample extraction every time, said Pressure BioSciences.
Already, the company has installed around 200 of its PCT Barocycler instruments plus required consumables in laboratories. The applications are endless - from the key $2 billion target market of mass spectrometry, an analytical technique used to determine the characteristics of molecules, to biomarker discovery, forensics and counter-bioterrorism, among other uses.
According to recent market reports, the company believes there are roughly 80,000 laboratories around the world that require the extraction of DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids and small molecules from biological samples for their research studies.  Pressure BioSciences aims to capture between 5 to 10 percent of this existing market in the next three to five years, amounting to roughly between 4,000 to 8,000 labs. This should mean big business considering Barocycler instruments cost between $25,000 to $48,000 per unit, and with every Barocycler sale, there is an expected stream of consumable sales for years afterwards.
Sales so far for the company have been achieved with a sales team of just three. But earlier this month, the company managed to raise $843,000 from a registered direct offering, which will be used to further boost commercialization efforts. Schumacher said it has a specific commercialization strategy in place, which includes both internal sales and external partnerships - a strategy that is expected to be implemented into 2012.
Indeed, Schumacher told Proactiveinvestors that funds from the financing to date have been used to work on developments with regards to new strategic partners for the company.
Pressure BioSciences' CEO also said that the company, which already has three international distribution agreements in place, remains on target for one or more regional and/or worldwide PCT product distribution deals before year-end.
In October, the company also successfully converted all remaining Series A and Series B convertible preferred stock into common shares. As a result, Pressure BioSciences issued over 3.45 million shares of its common stock, making the company a much more attractive investment to the community, said Schumacher.
Even with this conversion, the company now has only about 6.5 million shares of its common stock outstanding.
Operationally, Pressure BioSciences is progressing, having been awarded two research grants recently, including $0.7 million from the US Department of Defense to help fund the development of a new, fully automated PCT-based system for the processing of viruses and bacteria.
Of significance, the company unveiled four future products in February, with the first launching this past August, and the remainder due to be introduced late next year or in 2013.