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When Pacific Biosciences concurred to a buyout by Illumina almost 3 years earlier, the acquisition was pitched as pairing of business with complementary DNA sequencing innovations. Antitrust regulators saw otherwise, leading the companies to desert the deal. PacBio now has actually another deal planned to cover the spectrum of DNA sequencing, but this time its as the acquirer. The sequencing business is paying $600 million to purchase Omniome.
Menlo Park, California-based PacBio specializes in examining long stretches of DNA. These so-called long reads are more susceptible to errors. PacBio has actually developed long read technology that evaluates the very same DNA fragment repeatedly, which it states is meant to get rid of the random mistakes that can happen on each pass. Long read analysis has applications in infectious disease, plant and animal health, life science research study, genetic screening.
Omniome is developing a proprietary DNA sequencing platform intended to offer higher precision for its short reads compared to conventional sequencing innovations. Greater accuracy will be a differentiator in oncology applications; what drives worth is the outcome, not the amount of data generated, PacBio stated in an investor presentation.
Speaking on a company video, PacBio CEO Christian Henry stated that combining long-read innovation with Omniomes short-read platform gives his business a method to address more possible applications including oncology, pathogen detection, and noninvasive prenatal screening.
” Ultimately, having two of the most sophisticated sequencing innovations will enable us to provide clients with the ideal service for their application, whether the application requires short reads or long reads,” he said. “This will provide consumers more option, higher flexibility, and will drastically broaden our market opportunity.”.
The deal is a combination of cash and stock: 9.4 million shares of publicly traded PacBio, plus $300 million in money. Omniome shareholders might get $200 million more in cash and stock, tied to the accomplishment of undefined turning points. The acquisition, obviously, is still based on the exact same regulatory approvals that PacBios tie-up with Illumina stopped working however required to win.
Illumina strolled away from the proposed PacBio acquisition, it hasnt given up on M&A. The business reached a contract to get cancer detection start-up Grail in last year.
Approval of PacBio shareholders is not needed. When it does, PacBio will stay headquartered in the Bay Area and it will also keep Omniomes San Diego website.
In connection with the Omniome acquisition, PacBio has actually reached an arrangement to raise about $300 million through the private sale of its stock to particular investors. Those celebrations consist of current financiers in the business, such as Casdin Capital SB Northstar LP, a fund managed by SB Management Limited, a SoftBank Group Corp. subsidiary, and accounts and funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates.
Image: 4X-image, Getty Images.

PacBio now has actually another deal meant to span the spectrum of DNA sequencing, but this time its as the acquirer. Menlo Park, California-based PacBio specializes in examining long stretches of DNA. PacBio has established long read technology that examines the same DNA fragment consistently, which it says is intended to get rid of the random errors that can happen on each pass. The deal is a mix of cash and stock: 9.4 million shares of publicly traded PacBio, plus $300 million in cash. When it does, PacBio will remain headquartered in the Bay Area and it will also keep Omniomes San Diego website.