Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. PACB, popularly known as PacBio, announced innovations to its Revio and Vega platforms last week. The innovations are expected to lower sequencing costs, add new multiomic capabilities and expand support for regulated research environments.
It is worth mentioning that the advancements pivot on new SPRQ-Nx sequencing chemistry and consumables, which are designed to deliver PacBio’s most affordable HiFi genome till now.
Per PACB, the beta testing of SPRQ-Nx chemistry on the higher throughput Revio is expected to begin in November 2025, with full commercial availability planned in 2026. Additionally, PacBio’s benchtop system, Vega, will integrate SPRQ-Nx chemistry and 5hmC detection capabilities in 2026.
The latest announcement is expected to significantly boost PacBio’s sequencing solutions business and strengthen its foothold in the niche space.
Significance of PACB’s Latest Announcement
Per PacBio, at the time of the launch, Revio systems running SPRQ-Nx are expected to produce complete, multiomic native long-read genomes at the lowest cost in the market. The company intends to achieve these cost savings by enabling multiple runs per sequencing instrument, nanofluidic chips (SMRT) Cell, while maintaining output per run. This is expected to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
Management believes that PACB’s new pricing will likely allow researchers to apply the HiFi data to various applications requiring more genomes, especially those leveraging large sample numbers to build robust AI models.
Per an expert familiar with the use of long-read sequencing in population genomics, Revio’s versatile SMRT Cells are helping lower the cost of sequencing, making this advanced data crucial for the next wave of population studies and allowing scientists to uncover more discoveries, while including a wider range of people from different backgrounds.
Industry Prospects in Favor of PacBio
Per a report by Grand View Research, the global sequencing market was estimated at $15,540.0 million in 2023 and is anticipated to reach $62,478.8 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 22.2%. Factors like the growing demand for gene therapy and a significant increase in demand for consumer genomics in recent years are likely to drive the market.
Given the market potential, the latest announcement is expected to provide a significant boost to PacBio’s business.
PACB’s Recent Developments
This month, PacBio announced an expanded partnership with seqWell. Under the new agreement, PacBio will distribute seqWell’s LongPlex Multiplexing Kit, which is already available, with global availability expected in 2026.
Last month, PacBio entered the high-throughput carrier screening market with a significantly expanded and enhanced suite of PureTarget products.
Comparison With PacBio’s Peers
A notable player in the sequencing space and PACB’s peer is Illumina, Inc. ILMN. This month, Illumina announced the release of its novel 5-base solution, enabling researchers to pursue broader biological questions with accuracy and ease. The solution, powered by Illumina's proprietary 5-base chemistry and custom DRAGEN algorithms, will likely deliver high-resolution insights into both the methylome and genome, while reducing complexity and cost. The same month, Illumina announced that GeneDx (a renowned name in genetic testing for rare diseases) is piloting its emerging constellation-mapped read technology, assessing its performance on regions of the genome that traditional short-read technologies have not resolved.
Another name in the sequencing space and PacBio’s peer is Qiagen N.V. QGEN. Last month, QIAGEN received the CE-IVDR certification for its full portfolio of QIAstat-Dx syndromic testing systems and panels, including an expanded Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel. In July, QIAGEN launched its new QIAseq xHYB Long Read Panels, a suite of target enrichment solutions designed to unlock long-read sequencing of genomically complex regions. Per QIAGEN, the new offering strengthens its position as a provider of differentiated solutions for use on any next-generation sequencing platforms spanning both short- and long-read technologies.
Another notable peer of PACB is 10x Genomics, Inc. TXG. This month, 10x Genomics announced a strategic partnership with SPT Labtech to provide automated workflows for single-cell research. The collaboration will allow scientists to scale experiments on 10x Genomics’ Chromium Single Cell platform, with planned future expansion to the Visium Spatial platform, by providing plug-and-play protocols on SPT Labtech’s firefly liquid handling platform. Last month, 10x Genomics announced a translational research collaboration with CLISEQ Ltd. to launch a multi-year, international clinical research study to investigate the use of peripheral single-cell RNA sequencing as a minimally-invasive, clinically viable alternative to bone marrow aspiration for diagnosing hematologic disorders.
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Illumina, Inc. (ILMN): Free Stock Analysis Report QIAGEN N.V. (QGEN): Free Stock Analysis Report Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB): Free Stock Analysis Report 10x Genomics (TXG): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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