AN INNOVATIVE CANCER SCREENING COMPANY GAINS FDA APPROVAL AND GROWS RAPIDLY IN WISCONSIN®
Following a move from Boston to Wisconsin, Exact Sciences required room to expand
Exact Sciences relocated from Boston to Wisconsin because its two-man operation wanted to tap into the state’s strong, dedicated workforce and first-class universities for talent recruitment. Committed to playing a role in the eradication of colorectal cancer, the company wanted the best and brightest to help further its mission.
However, after developing Cologuard–the first ever noninvasive screening test for colorectal cancer–and gaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and European regulators, the company needed assistance in order to grow.
“WEDC was instrumental in helping us expand. We were able to bring talent to our organization and invest at a time when we were experiencing tremendous growth.”
WEDC rewards Exact Sciences for its commitment to Madison
With the Madison-based molecular diagnostics company ballooning to a workforce of more than 500 employees and the industry’s growing interest in the company’s easy-to-use screening test, Exact Sciences turned to the Wisconsin Economic Development (WEDC) to aid in its desire to grow and remain in Wisconsin.
WEDC offered up to $9 million in state tax credits to honor the company’s commitment to the state. The credits can be earned through a combination of hiring more than 750 employees–at the time one of the largest awards in WEDC history based on projected job creation–and investing $26 million in capital expenditures through 2020. The final amount of credits issued under the agreement will be contingent upon the number of jobs created and capital expenditures.
“WEDC was there to work with Exact Sciences to provide refundable state tax credits, which allowed it to have the cash flow needed to meet its acceleration needs for establishing a production facility.”
Exact Sciences continues the fight to eradicate cancer
Because of the expansion, the publicly traded Exact Sciences now has new main offices and a research and development lab. It has doubled its staff size, employs roughly 100 sales representatives around the U.S., and even has a small office in London housing ten employees.
More than 4,000 physicians have prescribed Cologuard, and Exact Sciences is in the early stages of developing tests to screen for other types of cancer.
