Customers are buying Pacific Biosciences new reusable sequencing chips, the company reported Nov. 4 along with its third-quarter financial results.
More than half of consumables revenue on its flagship Revio sequencer was tied to the Sprq-Nx chemistry and two-thirds of the installed base has opted to upgrade software needed to run the new chips, which can be washed and reused several times, lowering the average cost per gigabase compared to the previous generation of consumables.
Launched in May, Sprq-Nx will soon be available on PacBio’s new Vega benchtop sequencer — which saw an uptick in sales in Q3 — and the lower achievable cost has made it more viable for large sequencing projects to use PacBio’s HiFi sequencing.
China’s Berry Genomics is acquiring 10 Revio systems for a large study on genetic birth defects, PacBio officials said on a conference call with investors following the release of results. And the US Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded Sampled, a PacBio customer, a five-year contract to provide genomics analyses using long-read whole genome sequencing for the Million Veteran Program.
For the third quarter, PacBio reported total revenue of $40.6 million, up 6 percent from $38.4 million a year ago, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $39.4 million.
Product revenue was $34.0 million, up from $32.6 million in Q3 2025. Instrument revenue rose to $13.2 million from $11.3 million a year ago, while consumable revenue slipped to $20.8 million from $21.3 million a year ago. PacBio placed 15 Revio instruments, up from 13 a year ago, and 35 Vega instruments, up from 32. That does not include the 10 Revios shipped to Berry, which Canaccord Genuity analyst Kyle Mikson reported were “‘non-traditional (e.g., reagent-rental, etc.)” placements.
More than 90 percent of Vega placements went to new customers, CEO Mark Van Oene said on a Nov. 4 conference call with investors. The total Vega installed base is now 235 instruments; for Revio, 381.
Service and other revenue was $6.6 million, up from $5.8 million.
Net loss for the quarter was $37.8 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with a loss of $38.0 million, or $0.13 per share, in Q3 2025. Adjusted loss per share was $0.11, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $0.13 loss per share. The quarter included $3.0 million in restructuring charges.
R&D expense was $20.2 million, down from $22.8 million, and SG&A expense was $29.4 million, down from $31.1 million, driven by lower personnel costs after layoffs in August.
PacBio Confirms Layoffs, Gets New CEO as Q2 Revenue Disappoints
Pacific Biosciences said on Aug. 5 that Christian Henry has stepped down as CEO, effective immediately, to be replaced by Mark Van Oene, formerly the Chief Operating Officer.
PacBio ended the quarter with $199.4 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments.
PacBio CFO Jim Gibson stepped down in the quarter. Van Oene will act as interim CFO while the company searches for a permanent replacement. Bill Meyer was named chief accounting officer.
For the full year, PacBio now expects total revenue of $155 million to $160 million.
