Gen-Probe Bets $50M on PacBio

Luke Timmerman6/17/10

Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO), the San Diego-based maker of diagnostics, said today it has invested $50 million in Menlo Park, CA-based Pacific Biosciences, an emerging maker of high-speed gene sequencing instruments. The two companies will also collaborate, exclusively with each other for the next 30 months, on using the new sequencing technology to develop more molecular-based diagnostics. PacBio, founded in 2004, had raised a total of more than $266 million in grants and venture capital before today’s news.

Luke Timmerman is the National Biotech Editor of Xconomy, and the Editor of Xconomy Seattle. E-mail him at ltimmerman@xconomy.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ldtimmerman.