PacBio has been burning through investors’ cash as it works to make long-read sequencing more accessible. Neil Ward, the company’s general manager, laid out his thoughts on the technology, its place in the market and how genomics data can be both effectively and fairly utilized.

PacBio's TRGT can sequence broader sections of DNA, giving scientists and clinicians better odds of spotting repeated sections of DNA linked to disease.

When the sector worries about regulation it is usually about drug development and registration. But governments also regulate on monopolistic positions in life sciences. Adding to that, national security enforcement is now rising.

When almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong at a company, the proposition of it turning acquirer may meet with some resistance from its proposed targets and their investors.