Pacific Biosciences Taps ex-ABI Chief Michael Hunkapiller as New CEO

January 6, 2012

By Bio-IT World Staff  

January 6, 2012 | In what will likely be a flurry of corporate and research news on the eve of the J.P. Morgan conference in San Francisco next week, the next-generation sequencing firm Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) has appointed Michael W. Hunkapiller as its president and CEO, effective immediately.    

Hunkapiller, who spent two decades building Applied Biosystems (ABI; now part of Life Technologies) into the market leader in the DNA sequencing, takes over from founding CEO Hugh Martin, who will remain on the Board of Directors through the company’s next annual shareholder meeting.    

Hunkapiller was an early investor in PacBio through Alloy Ventures, the company he joined after leaving ABI in 2004. He was name executive chairman of PacBio’s Board of Directors last October.   

“I am excited and honored to take on the role of President and CEO of PacBio,” said Hunkapiller said in a statement. “Since joining the company’s Board, I have always believed that our SMRT [Single Molecule Real Time] technology would play a significant role in biological research and the advancement of medical therapies.  

“Now that we have begun to deliver products to customers, I am more convinced than ever that we are on our way to fulfilling that promise. The company is in great position with the people, products, and cash to drive the adoption of its disruptive technology.”  

Martin, who is a cancer survivor battling multiple myeloma, commented: “Developing a technology as advanced as single molecule sequencing was a tremendous achievement for PacBio, and Mike is now the ideal person to drive the broader adoption of PacBio’s products. I am in support of this decision and am looking forward to identifying my next exciting career venture.”  

Bill Ericson, PacBio’s lead independent Board Member and Mohr Davidow General Partner, thanked Martin for his dedication and efforts in commercializing PacBio’s platform, and welcomed Hunkapiller. “Mike brings unmatched expertise, experience and relationships with customers in the life science tools market and is uniquely qualified to lead the company through its next stage of growth.”    

The incoming CEO faces a stiff challenge in the year ahead. Hunkapiller must find a way to boost PacBio’s sales and applications for its single-molecule sequencing platform, which is facing severe competition from established market leaders Illumina and Life Technologies/Ion Torrent, not to mention the prospect of new third-generation technologies reaching the market soon.   

PacBio’s stock price has plummeted in the past 12 months, dropping from $16/share to $3.