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Pacific Biosciences CEO Touts Clinical Progress, Vega Potential at JP Morgan

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SAN FRANCISCO – In a presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference here on Tuesday, Pacific Biosciences CEO Christian Henry revealed that the firm has already placed seven Vega benchtop long-read sequencing instruments, a platform it announced in November.

The fourth quarter placements were joined by 23 Revio instruments, PacBio's high-throughput sequencer. Overall, PacBio sold 97 Revio instruments in 2024, nearly half of which went to new customers, bringing the total installed based to 270 as of Dec. 31.

Henry said he is hopeful Vega and other 2024 product launches will help PacBio return to growth this year.

Earlier on Tuesday, the firm announced preliminary Q4 revenues of approximately $39.2 million, down 33 percent year over year from $58.4 million in Q4 2023 and below the consensus Wall Street estimate of $40.6 million. For full-year 2024, PacBio reported revenues of $154.0 million, down 23 percent from $200.5 million in the prior-year period and missing the consensus Wall Street estimate of $155.4 million. Total consumables revenue grew 11 percent, year over year.

PacBio is improving its financial position, having reduced annual operating expenses by $75 million, and brought its cash burn rate down from $70 million in Q1 to $27 million in Q4.

The company has "hundreds" of Vega sales opportunities, 70 percent to customers who would be new to PacBio, Henry said. "The point of Vega is to have a wide reach," he noted.

Besides Vega, PacBio also launched the Nanobind PanDNA extraction kit, a multiplexing kit, a targeted sequencing kit, and a new chemistry for Revio last year.

2024 was a "watershed year" for the firm's clinical portfolio, Henry added, highlighting partnerships with Quest Diagnostics, Myriad Genetics, Bioscientia, Berry Genomics, and Radboud University Medical Center, among others. The PureTarget targeted sequencing kit has been "foundational in developing clinical customers," he noted.

Radboud UMC in the Netherlands has recently committed to sequencing 5,000 genomes on the Revio platform, Henry said, and just published a paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics showing the ability of PacBio's HiFi sequencing to identify genetic variants in patient samples that had previously been analyzed with short-read sequencing and other tests.

"This is the beginning of germline genomics moving to long-read sequencing," Henry said.

Berry Genomics in China has committed to purchasing 50 Vega instruments for certain sequencing-based diagnostics, including genetic tests for thalassemia and fragile X syndrome, and plans to take the assays through China's regulatory process.

Based on its work with Berry, PacBio has laid out a plan to build an end-to-end clinical sequencing workflow for laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) built around Vega.

Henry also shared some of PacBio's R&D projects. Production-scale HiFi and Onso short-read sequencers remain in the firm's plans. PacBio is also working on higher-density SMRT cells, new SMRT cell formats including moving to 200 mm silicon wafers from 300 mm ones, the ability to reuse chips, faster chemistry, and more informatics capabilities.

During the Q&A portion, Henry predicted that RNA isoform sequencing on PacBio would garner more attention in 2025.

The firm is not providing 2025 guidance until the official release of its 2024 financial results next month.