Menlo Park, Calif. – Pacific Biosciences today announced that on August 27, 2010, the Company was named as a defendant in a complaint filed by Helicos Biosciences Corporation in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. In the complaint, Helicos alleges that the Company is infringing two patents allegedly licensed by Helicos and two patents allegedly owned by Helicos, by making, using, and selling its SMRT™ technology for single molecule sequencing of DNA and teaching customers how to use the SMRT™ technology and PacBio RS sequencing platform.

While the Company cannot guarantee any particular outcome in this case, it believes that Helicos’ claims are without merit and will vigorously defend against the claims asserted in the complaint.

The four patents asserted by Helicos are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,645,596 and 7,037,687 (each titled “Method of Determining the Nucleotide Sequence of Oligonucleotides and DNA Molecules”), 7,169,560 (titled “Short Cycle Methods for Sequencing Polynucleotides”), and 7,767,400 (titled “Paired-end Reads in Sequencing by Synthesis”). Helicos seeks a permanent injunction enjoining the Company from further infringement of the asserted patents, and unspecified monetary damages, including enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. §284, costs, attorneys’ fees and other relief as the court deems just and proper.

“Helicos’ patents are directed to methods used in their second generation ‘flush and scan’ system, and even at that, do not represent the earliest publication of those concepts,” said Hugh Martin, Pacific Biosciences’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Our third generation SMRT technology observes single molecules in real time, a fundamentally different approach.”

As of the time of this release, Pacific Biosciences has not yet been served with a copy of the Helicos complaint.

About Pacific Biosciences

Pacific Biosciences’ mission is to transform the way humankind acquires, processes and interprets data from living systems through the design, development and commercialization of innovative tools for biological research. The Company has developed a novel approach to studying the synthesis and regulation of DNA, RNA and protein. Combining recent advances in nanofabrication, biochemistry, molecular biology, surface chemistry and optics, Pacific Biosciences has created a powerful technology platform called single molecule, real-time, or SMRT, technology. SMRT technology enables real-time analysis of biomolecules with single molecule resolution, which has the potential to transform the understanding of biological systems by providing a window into these systems that has not previously been open for scientific study.