“Considering the lengthy regulatory approval process the transaction has already been subject to and continued uncertainty of the ultimate outcome, the parties decided that terminating the agreement is in the best interest of their respective shareholders and employees. In accordance with the merger agreement, Illumina will pay Pacific Biosciences a termination fee of $98M,” the companies announced.
“We believe this proposed combination would have broadened access to Pacific Biosciences sequencing technology, significantly expanded and accelerated innovation, and ultimately increased the clinical utility and impact of sequencing. I’d like to thank our employees, as well as the Pacific Biosciences team, for their unwavering dedication and commitment throughout this process.
Moving forward, we will continue to look for ways to increase the impact and benefit of sequencing technologies for researchers, clinicians, and most importantly, patients,” said Francis deSouza, President and CEO of Illumina. “We are disappointed that our customers and other stakeholders will not realize the powerful advantages of integrating the sequencing capabilities of our two companies.
With that said, we are confident in the future of Pacific Biosciences as we continue to pursue improved sequencing accuracy and throughput that can be utilized in an ever-expanding number of applications,” added Michael Hunkapiller, CEO of Pacific Biosciences.