Talaris Therapeutics: Trading Well Below Cash, Strategic Alternatives

Talaris Therapeutics (TALS) (~$79MM market cap) is another failed biotech that recently announced they are pursuing of strategic alternatives after discontinuing a phase 3 trial and a phase 2 trial for their cell therapy intended to help those with kidney transplants.  Talaris hasn't completely raised the white flag, but close, they are still enrolling patients in another phase 2 trial, this time for scleroderma, and only laid off one-third of their workforce (112 employees as of the last 10-K).  However, Talaris is trading well below cash even in a conservative 4 quarters of cash burn scenario, any hint of a liquidation or other corporate action could spur the shares higher.

Talaris disclosed in their recent 8-K that they had $181.3MM in cash and securities remaining.  Using the implied Q4 cash burn rate for the remainder of 2023, I get a proforma net cash amount of $129.3MM against a current market cap of $79MM.  One benefit here is the presence of Blackstone's Life Sciences arm (Clarus Ventures) which owns just under 20% of the shares, hopefully enough to look out for shareholder value during the process.

Disclosure: I own shares of TALS