ASHG: Long-Read Genomics Meets Clinical Data in PacBio, Verily Health AI Deal

PacBio and Verily Health have entered a multi-year collaboration to combine PacBio’s HiFi long-read sequencing with Verily’s clinical data and cloud-based analysis. The companies said the arrangement is intended to produce clinico-genomic datasets that can be used in biomedical research and in the training and deployment of artificial intelligence models.

Under the agreement, PacBio sequencing workflows will be connected with Verily Pre, a platform for governing, analyzing, and using health data. Verily will configure the platform’s Workbench research environment to aggregate, analyze, and curate HiFi genomic datasets alongside real-world clinical information. The companies also plan to use Verily Pre’s trusted agentic environment for AI model training and inference.

Long-read sequencing can capture structural variants, methylation patterns, and full-length RNA transcripts that may be difficult to resolve with short-read methods. Integrating those data with clinical records, however, can require separate tools and customized workflows. The collaboration will focus on connecting these steps and supporting larger long-read studies across research organizations, biopharma companies, clinical institutions, and population genomics programs.

PacBio develops sequencing systems for life science and clinical research. Its HiFi technology generates long reads and is used in areas including human genetics, oncology, infectious disease, and agricultural research. The company said its whole-genome sequencing workflows already operate within the Verily Pre environment, providing a technical starting point for the expanded work.

Verily Health is a healthcare data intelligence company whose technology is designed to help organizations manage and analyze protected health information. Verily Pre, its primary data platform, includes governance, modeling, and secure research tools.

“Working with PacBio, we hope to deliver a meaningful impact to researchers and innovators working to find new answers for neurology, oncology, rare disease, and other areas of critical unmet need,” said Stephen Gillett, chairman and CEO of Verily Health.

PacBio president and CEO Mark Van Oene said the companies aim to create a path for turning complex biological information into data that can be used at scale in AI workflows. The announcement did not disclose financial terms, specific customers, or a timetable for broader deployment. Over the course of the collaboration, the companies plan to extend the integration to larger and more complex long-read programs.

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