Matsudo, Japan, May 7, 2013 - Precision System Science, Co., Ltd. (PSS) has received a termination letter from Roche regarding the agreement that was concluded in December, 2012 to develop and manufacture a fully automated emulsion PCR instrument for next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms. PSS understands this action taken by Roche is in line with the announced reorganization related to Roche Applied Science business.
The cancellation of the development of fully automated emulsion PCR instrument for NGS is very regrettable to PSS; however, we at PSS have already developed and commercialized a sample preparation instrument, "SX-8G Compact" for NGS. PSS has determined to accelerate the development of "genePrepPlanner-VI", the next generation version of "SX-8G Compact" and meet the increasing demand in the clinical application areas. Accordingly, PSS plans to announce the technical outline of "genePrepPlanner-VI" at "The 10th International Workshop on Advanced Genomics" held in Tokyo on May 21, 2013.
We estimate that the cancellation of the development of fully automated emulsion PCR should have only minor effect on overall PSS business results of the current fiscal year.
