Star Tribune
by Christopher Snowbeck

Shares of Wisconsin-based Exact Sciences jumped by about 25 percent in trading Wednesday morning after the company announced a marketing deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that's expected to boost sales for a cancer screening test first developed by the Mayo Clinic. Pfizer says it will match Exact Sciences' shared marketing and promotion expense up to $87 million between 2018 and 2021, according to a regulatory filing. The shared spending would come on top of the Wisconsin company's baseline marketing expenses of $80 million per year. A Mayo physician is a co-inventor of the Cologuard testing technology, which has been licensed to Exact Sciences from Mayo Clinic. Under that licensing agreement, Mayo Clinic and the physician share in equity and royalties, although the clinic hasn't released financial details.

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Additional coverage:
Reuters, Exact Sciences surges after marketing deal with Pfizer for cancer test

Context: The stool DNA test is a noninvasive laboratory test that identifies DNA changes in the cells of a stool sample. The stool DNA test is a new method to screen for colon cancer. The stool DNA test looks for abnormal DNA associated with colon cancer or colon polyps. The test also detects hidden blood in the stool, which can indicate the presence of cancer. If a stool DNA test detects abnormal DNA, additional testing may be used to investigate the cause, such as a colonoscopy to examine the inside of the colon. One stool DNA test (Cologuard) is approved for colon cancer screening in the United States. You can read more about the stool DNA test here.

Contacts: Joe Dangor, Duska Anastasijevic

Tags: Cologuard, Exact Sciences, Star Tribune, stool DNA test, Uncategorized