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PacBio's (PACB) Collaboration to Boost Rare Disease Diagnosis

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Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB - Free Report) , also popularly known as PacBio, recently collaborated with ARUP Laboratories to conduct a study intended to assess if the solve rate for rare diseases can be improved. It is worth mentioning that ARUP Laboratories bought a PacBio Sequel IIe system for utilization in the Utah NeoSeq Project.

Interestingly, incorporation of the Sequel IIe in the study provides the team at ARUP Laboratories an opportunity to exhibit the potential of long-read HiFi sequencing technology in detecting variants in areas of the genome, which are difficult to sequence with short-read sequencing technologies, and thus bolster diagnosis yield for rare diseases cases.

This announcement is likely to provide a boost to PacBio’s robust sequencing technology.

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Per management at ARUP Laboratories, the incorporation of HiFi whole genome sequencing (WGS) in the study is likely to enable them to gain more insight into the samples received, thereby helping their clients and patients in getting answers.

According to management at PacBio, the company remains focused on technological evolution. The company believes that more than half, which might go up to two-thirds, of unsolved rare disease cases can be explained through HiFi sequencing.

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The collaboration is likely to be crucial to future prospects, as according to PacBio management, high-quality WGS is the future of medicine.

Market Prospects

Per a report by Grand View Research, the global genomics market was valued at $20.1 billion in 2020 and is projected to witness a CAGR of 15.4% from 2021 to 2028. Hence, this launch is a well-timed one for PacBio.

Recent Developments

This month, the company introduced the HiFiViral SARS-CoV-2 Kit, which is a fully kitted end-to-end solution for COVID-19 surveillance. This solution will help public health laboratories to identify new SARS-CoV-2 variants and identify all variants circulating within a population.

Also this month, PacBio’s Sequel IIe System was chosen by Prenetics Group Limited to develop personalized genomics for healthcare.

Price Performance

Shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have gained 2.1% on a year-to-date basis compared with the industry’s growth of 10%.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space include Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO - Free Report) , McKesson Corporation (MCK - Free Report) and AngioDynamics, Inc. (ANGO - Free Report) .

Thermo Fisher surpassed earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 9.02%. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Thermo Fisher’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 14%. The company’s earnings yield of 3.7% compares favorably with the industry’s (3.6%).

McKesson beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 19.9%. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

McKesson’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 8.9%. The company’s earnings yield of 9.9% compares favorably with the industry’s 3.2%.

AngioDynamics surpassed earnings estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 125.6%. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

AngioDynamics’ consensus mark for revenues for fiscal 2022 stands at $313.3 million, suggesting an improvement of 7.7% from the prior-year reported figure. The company’s earnings yield of 0.1% compares favorably with the industry’s (3.6%).

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