Pacific Biosciences and Covaris have introduced a new workflow that couples Covaris’ truXTRAC® FFPE extraction technology with PacBio’s Kinnex™ library preparation and sequencing on the Revio system, enabling robust HiFi long‑read sequencing of formalin‑fixed, paraffin‑embedded tumor samples.
In early validation studies, the workflow generated more than 100 million HiFi reads per sample with mean read lengths of 750–1,500 base pairs, detected over 11,000 structural variants and more than 5 million small variants, and phased approximately 60 % of variants into haplotypes—substantially higher than the 3,000–7,000 structural variants typically identified by short‑read sequencing of FFPE tissue.
The new workflow unlocks a large, under‑served market of archived tumor tissues, potentially expanding the addressable market for PacBio’s Revio platform and increasing demand for consumables. PacBio’s recent financial results show a 13.8 % revenue increase in Q4 2025 driven by consumable growth, while instrument revenue declined 42 % year‑over‑year, underscoring the importance of new applications to sustain growth.
"By combining Covaris’ AFA‑based extraction technology with PacBio’s sequencing expertise, we are enabling researchers to unlock valuable insights from challenging FFPE samples," said Annemarie Watson, CEO of Covaris. "This collaboration opens archives of banked samples for HiFi sequencing on the Revio and Vega systems," added Dave Miller, Vice President of Global Marketing at PacBio.
The announcement was well received by investors, with trading volume above the 20‑day average, reflecting confidence in the new workflow’s potential to broaden PacBio’s market reach.
The partnership positions PacBio to capture a growing demand for high‑quality genomic data from archived samples, potentially driving future revenue growth and strengthening its competitive position in the oncology sequencing market.
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