During a quarterly period in which it released two new cancer-screening products, Madison’s Exact Sciences Corp. announced that it generated $707 million in revenue compared to $638 million for the same period of 2024, an increase of 11%.
The numbers included screening revenue of $540 million and precision oncology revenue of $167 million.
While the revenue figures were encouraging, leading the company to raise its annual revenue guidance, the company reported a net loss of $101 million, or 54 cents per share, an improvement of $9 million and 6 cents per share, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2024.
The figures were released Thursday afternoon during the company’s first quarter earnings call. With higher quarterly revenue, due in part to the introduction of Cologuard Plus and Oncodetect, Exact Sciences now projects $3.07 billion to $3.12 billion in full-year sales, up $40 million from its previous guidance.
That includes $2.39 billion to nearly $2.43 billion in sales of cancer screening products, and $680 million to $695 million from its precision oncology portfolio.
The upbeat revenue performance helped Exact Sciences shares rise to $50.52 on the Nasdaq market in after-hours trading, after closing at $47.15. By 7:08 a.m. Friday morning on the Nasdaq Futures market, its shares had risen to $52.50, or 11.32% over Thursday’s closing price.
Kevin Conroy, chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences, said the company is starting to see the benefit of investments made to launch and scale new tests. Combined with the fact that cancer screens for repeat customers now represent 25% of its revenue, he said these growth drivers will continue to play out over 2025 and beyond.
“This provides a predictable, recurring source of revenue and we are getting even better at keeping those patients screened,” he said.
Another telltale sign, Conroy said, is that Cologuard, the company’s original noninvasive cancer screening test, will soon outpace the number of colonoscopies performed in a given year.
New additions
During the first quarter, Exact Sciences launched Cologuard Plus, an updated stool test for colon cancer that has been shown to detect more cancers and yield fewer false positives than the original Cologuard. The more precise test, which received FDA approval last October, will result in up to 40% fewer patients requiring follow-up colonoscopies, according to the company.
The test is ordered by doctors and shipped to patients’ homes like the original Cologuard. The company launched the Cologuard Plus test with Medicare coverage.
Exact Sciences also announced the launch of Oncodetect, a new test designed to detect molecular residual disease (MRD) across multiple solid tumors and provide patients and their health care providers with insight needed to make more informed decisions throughout the treatment process.
The highly sensitive, tumor-informed test detects up to 200 DNA variants, identifying signs of colorectal cancer (CRC) recurrence up to two years earlier than imaging. Exact Sciences expects to obtain Medicare reimbursement for the test in the second quarter of 2025.
“These additions expand our portfolio and move us closer to our goal of helping to eradicate cancer by preventing it, detecting it earlier, and guiding personalized treatment,” Conroy said. “With growing momentum in our commercial organization and improved profitability, we raised our full-year outlook and continue to build a foundation for sustained, long-term growth.”
Exact Sciences also expects to launch a third product, Cancerguard, a multicancer screening test, in the second half of the year. The Cancerguard test is designed to detect multiple cancers, in their earliest stages, from a single blood draw.
The company envisions little to no effect from higher tariffs on foreign trading partners because it manufactures and performs its lab work in the U.S.
Even with a good day on the stock market, Conroy was asked during a question-and-answer session with investors why Exact Sciences doesn’t get more respect in the market. His response was that the company remains focused on what it can control, namely getting more people screened with strong commercial execution.
“The key thing for the team, the management team, and all of our team members, is to focus on long-term value creation, and we had a good quarter,” he said. “A lot of what happened in this quarter is because of things that we did two years ago and three years ago, and that’s where we keep focusing on — building a company that has sustainable impact.”
