Pacific Biosciences Sequel II Systems Deployed to Scale-Up Global Viral Surveillance Initiatives Focused on COVID-19
19 February 2021 - 12:01AM
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (Nasdaq: PACB), a leading
provider of high-quality, long-read sequencing platforms, today
announced that Labcorp (NYSE: LH), a leading global life sciences
company, has increased its commitment to highly accurate HiFi
sequencing with the addition of new PacBio® Sequel® II Systems. The
new systems will expand Labcorp’s capacity to generate thousands of
more complete coronavirus genomes from patient samples each week.
These data are being used by the United States (U.S.) Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track the spread of
existing SARS-CoV-2 variants and detect the emergence of new
variants circulating in different geographic regions. Most
recently, Labcorp and the CDC utilized PacBio HiFi sequencing data
to identify the first known cases of infection from the B.1.351
variant in both South Carolina1 and Virginia2.
“The emergence of more infectious mutations in the United
States, United Kingdom, South Africa and elsewhere has reinforced
the urgent need for expansive and robust viral surveillance
strategies. Governments and public health organizations around the
world are moving quickly to identify and track the different COVID
strains in their communities using complete viral genome
sequencing. PacBio is pleased to be collaborating with Labcorp to
help advance these critical public health efforts,” said Christian
Henry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific
Biosciences. “We are proud of our contributions to the development
of a production-scale assay that Labcorp and the CDC are now using
to understand the rapidly spreading new coronavirus variants. By
making this protocol publicly available, we hope to further enable
laboratories to bring the benefits of HiFi sequencing to bear in
the fight against this pandemic and to bolster longer-term viral
surveillance strategies here in the U.S. and abroad.”
PacBio’s highly accurate HiFi sequencing offers distinct
advantages that result in greater accuracy and completeness for
SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, including fewer amplicon drop-outs,
simpler amplicon balancing and the ability to call all types of
viral mutations robustly even at low coverage. PacBio has made this
high-throughput protocol, co-developed with Labcorp, widely
available to commercial laboratories, academic researchers, and
public health institutions globally who wish to establish a robust
long-read, high-throughput surveillance programs locally.
“Early in the pandemic, we partnered with PacBio to sequence
COVID-19 samples and expand our understanding of how the virus is
evolving,” said Dr. Marcia Eisenberg, Chief Scientific Officer,
Labcorp Diagnostics. “We are pleased to work with the CDC to
sequence an increasing number of samples as part of our ongoing,
all-in fight against COVID-19.”
The PacBio HiFiViral for SARS-CoV-2 Workflow protocol is
publicly available and can be accessed at: www.pacb.com/COVID-19.
This scalable protocol, which enables sequencing the complete
SARS-CoV-2 viral genome in batch sizes ranging from 96 to 900
samples per SMRT® Cell, allows any laboratory to rapidly and
efficiently power viral mutation surveillance using PacBio’s HiFi
sequencing.
1. South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control. South Carolina Public Health Officials Detect Nation’s
First Known Cases of the COVID-19 Variant Originally Detected in
South Africa. (January 28, 2021). Retrieved from:
https://scdhec.gov/index.php/news-releases/south-carolina-public-health-officials-detect-nations-first-known-cases-covid-19.
2. WTVR-TV. First case of South African COVID variant detected
in Virginia. (February 5, 2021). Retrieved from:
https://www.wtvr.com/news/coronavirus/south-african-covid-variant-detected-virginia
About Pacific BiosciencesPacific Biosciences of
California, Inc. (NASDAQ: PACB) is empowering life scientists with
highly accurate long-read sequencing. The company’s innovative
instruments are based on Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT®)
Sequencing technology, which delivers a comprehensive view of
genomes, transcriptomes, and epigenomes, enabling access to the
full spectrum of genetic variation in any organism. Cited in
thousands of peer-reviewed publications, PacBio® sequencing systems
are in use by scientists around the world to drive discovery in
human biomedical research, plant and animal sciences, and
microbiology. 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.
Forward-Looking StatementsAll statements in
this press release that are not historical are forward-looking
statements, including, among other things, statements relating to
market leadership, uses, accuracy, presentations regarding, quality
or performance of, or benefits of using, our products or
technologies, including SMRT technology, the suitability or utility
of our methods, products or technologies for particular
applications or projects, including in connection with SARS-CoV-2
surveillance and the detection of mutations and variants thereof,
the ability of the Company to be successful in reaching its
technological and commercial potential, and other future events.
You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements
because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
changes in circumstances and other factors that are, in some cases,
beyond Pacific Biosciences’ control and could cause actual results
to differ materially from the information expressed or implied by
forward-looking statements made in this press release. Factors that
could materially affect actual results can be found in Pacific
Biosciences’ most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including Pacific Biosciences’ most recent reports on
Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q, and include those listed under the
caption “Risk Factors.” Pacific Biosciences undertakes no
obligation to revise or update information in this press release to
reflect events or circumstances in the future, even if new
information becomes available.
Contacts
For PacBioMedia: Colin Sanford
203.918.4347colin@bioscribe.com
Investors: Trevin Rard 650.521.8450ir@pacificbiosciences.com
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