PacBio Announces Onso, the Highly Accurate Short-Read Sequencing Platform

The Onso Sequencing System is Designed to Deliver Industry-Leading Sensitivity and Specificity for Novel Insights in Oncology and Disease Research

MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PacBio (NASDAQ: PACB), a leading developer of high-quality, highly accurate sequencing solutions, today announced the commencement of external beta testing of the Onso™ sequencing system. This innovative benchtop short-read DNA sequencing platform is expected to provide an extraordinary level of accuracy by utilizing PacBio's unique sequencing by binding (SBB) technology.

"We are excited to see how researchers will leverage the ground-breaking sequencing accuracy that we expect Onso to deliver. Upon the launch, we expect to become the only company that we know of to offer both highly accurate, native short- and long-read sequencing technologies, which will enable us to offer more complete solutions to our customers' challenges," said Christian Henry, President and Chief Executive Officer of PacBio. "Onso is designed to deliver highly accurate sequencing reads, support scalable, flexible, and cost-optimized operation, and enable customers to feel more confident in their science. This system is designed to be a game changer for the genomics industry, and we're excited to begin shipping beta systems to our beta partners."

PacBio expects to begin taking orders for Onso in the first quarter of 2023 and expects to begin shipments of the system in the first half of 2023 upon completion of the external beta program. PacBio has chosen three beta testing sites for Onso: The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Corteva Agriscience, and Weill Cornell Medicine. Through the beta testing, scientists will be able to test Onso's specifications and provide critical feedback to PacBio.

Onso has been designed for compatibility with the rich ecosystem of products currently available for short-read sequencers. It supports a diverse set of library preparation types, single-cell analysis solutions, and whole-genome sequencing and other targeted methods, such as amplicon and hybridization capture panels. It is anticipated to deliver 500 million reads per run and offer 200 and 300 cycle kits enabling paired- and single-end reads, at a list price of US $259,000 per system.

"We believe the differentiated accuracy and workflow will allow scientists to process many more samples with the same output as other on-market short-read sequencing platforms," said Mark Van Oene, Chief Operations Officer at PacBio. "Onso is expected to bring a new standard of data quality and efficiency that allows for better interrogation of the genome without over-sequencing and complicated error correction methods. In oncology research applications, we are excited to demonstrate Onso's extraordinary sensitivity and specificity for studying genetic variants and for advancing the development of diagnostic tools to improve therapy selection and recurrence monitoring."

"We are excited to see continued innovation in the sequencing technology landscape," says Stacey Gabriel, Chief Genomics Officer and Senior Director of the Genomics Platform at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. "Improved accuracy and the ability to call challenging variants will be particularly important as we continue to refine targeted areas of the genome that harbor actionable and other clinically relevant variants." 

"The high accuracy of the new Onso system from PacBio opens new opportunities for agricultural biotechnology," said Gina Zastrow-Hayes, Biotechnology and GT-Genomics Technology Manager at Corteva Agriscience. "We look forward to bringing the technology in-house and applying it to applications such as gene editing specificity analysis that can benefit from increased accuracy."

PacBio has also posted a presentation to its website with additional details about Onso. Interested parties can access the presentation on PacBio's Investor Relations website, here and product information here.

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ: PACB) is a premier life science technology company that is designing, developing and manufacturing advanced sequencing solutions to help scientists and clinical researchers resolve genetically complex problems. Our products and technology under development stem from two highly differentiated core technologies focused on accuracy, quality and completeness which include our existing HiFi long read sequencing and our emerging SBB™ short read sequencing technologies. Our products address solutions across a broad set of research applications including human germline sequencing, plant and animal sciences, infectious disease and microbiology, oncology, and other emerging applications. For more information please visit www.pacb.com and follow @PacBio.

PacBio products are provided for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements relating to future availability, uses, accuracy, advantages, quality or performance of, or benefits or expected benefits of using, PacBio products or technologies, including the Onso sequencing system; expected levels of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity; expectations that PacBio will be the only company to offer short- and long-read sequencing technologies; expected scalability, flexibility and cost optimization of Onso; expected compatibility of Onso with products currently available for short-read sequencers and ability to support diverse library preparation types, single cell analysis solutions, whole-genome sequencing and other targeted methods; anticipated number of reads per run and cycle flow cells; anticipated pricing; expected ability to process more samples with the same output as other commercially available platforms; expectations regarding data quality and efficiency in connection with genome interrogation; expected use in oncology research and agricultural biotechnology applications; expectations with respect to continue development and delivery timeframes, and other future events. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and any such forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to the following cautionary statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on current expectations and involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, including, among others, challenges inherent in developing, manufacturing, launching, marketing and selling new products, and achieving anticipated new sales; Onso is entering beta testing, is not yet commercially available, and remains subject to additional development and validation; potential product performance and quality issues and potential delays in development timelines; assumptions, risks and uncertainties related to the ability to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from existing customers; rapidly changing technologies and extensive competition in genomic sequencing that could make the products PacBio is developing obsolete or non-competitive; supply chain risks; successfully completing development of a product that is not yet commercially available; customers and prospective customers curtailing or suspending activities utilizing our products; the impact of U.S. export restrictions on the shipment of PacBio products to certain countries; and third-party claims alleging infringement of patents and proprietary rights or seeking to invalidate PacBio's patents or proprietary rights. Readers are strongly encouraged to read the full cautionary statements contained in PacBio's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company's Forms 8-K, 10-K, and 10-Q. PacBio disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Contacts

Investors:
Todd Friedman
650.521.8450
[email protected] 

Media:
Lizelda Lopez
[email protected] 

SOURCE Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.