DNA Sequencing Giant Illumina Will Buy Pacific Biosciences For $1.2B
Illumina, the dominant maker of DNA sequencing machines, will buy rival Pacific Biosciences for $1.2B in order to cement its ownership of cutting-edge genetic research. The deal would be the largest that Illumina has done in its 20-year history. Francis deSouza, Illumina’s CEO, argues that the two companies’ technologies are very different, but their cultures are complementary.
Illumina has driven the cost of sequencing a human genome down from $10M a decade ago to less than $1,000 now, leading to an explosion of scientific research and medical uses for patients with cancer and rare diseases. DeSouza expects that Illumina will be able to eventually lower the cost per genome to $100 per person.
