Shares of Pacific Biosciences (NASDAQ: PACB) rose over 10% today after the latest regulatory development injected optimism into investors hoping that the proposed merger with Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) will pass muster in the United Kingdom.
In an effort to appease regulators critical of the merger, Illumina has offered to provide royalty-free licenses to all intellectual property in single-molecule, long-read DNA sequencing owned by Illumina and Pacific Biosciences at the time of the merger closing and to any patents granted up to 12 months after closing.
As of 10:55 a.m. EST, the small-cap stock had settled to a 8.1% gain. Shares of Illumina had settled to a gain of 1.3%.