Roche announced that it has officially notified Pacific Bioscience (PacBio) of its intention to terminate its agreement and efforts to develop a sequencing instrument for use in the clinical research and clinical market using their Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT®) technology.
With this termination, Roche no longer retains rights to this technology and PacBio is free to approach any market segments with their SMRT technology.
"As a result of this decision we will have greater focus on our internal development efforts and drive our long term strategy which is to be a leader in clinical diagnostic sequencing," said Neil Gunn, Head of Roche Sequencing Solutions. "We are continuing to actively pursue multiple technologies and commercial strategies internally and externally to ensure we address the specific needs of our customers in the clinical diagnostic sequencing market segment."