diff --git a/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm b/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
index 2a72fed480..62b92c81fd 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/bioinformatics.scm
@@ -2570,9 +2570,9 @@ (define-public cd-hit
      `(#:tests? #f ; there are no tests
        #:make-flags
        ;; Executables are copied directly to the PREFIX.
-       (list (string-append "PREFIX=" (assoc-ref %outputs "out") "/bin")
-             ;; Support longer sequences (e.g. Pacbio sequences)
-             "MAX_SEQ=60000000")
+       ,#~(list (string-append "PREFIX=" #$output "/bin")
+                ;; Support longer sequences (e.g. Pacbio sequences)
+                "MAX_SEQ=60000000")
        #:phases
        (modify-phases %standard-phases
          ;; No "configure" script