Pacific Biosciences announced a program to allow select customers to reuse costly SMRT cell consumables and launched a new sequencing chemistry (Sprq‑Nx) that increases output and adds 5‑hydroxymethylcytosine detection. The company said these steps can reduce cost‑per‑genome for large‑scale users to below $300 for a 20X human genome and deliver up to 40% savings for high‑volume customers. CEO Christian Henry framed the changes as a strategic pricing and margin enhancement that makes long‑read sequencing competitive with short reads for population‑scale projects. Researchers quoted in coverage said the development could tilt large biobanks and clinical genomics centers toward long‑read platforms for variant classes that short reads miss. PacBio will pilot a beta program for customers running hundreds of genomes and expects the new approach to accelerate adoption of high‑accuracy long reads in diagnostic and research settings.