Exact Sciences’ stock prices soared Thursday as CEO Kevin Conroy unveiled early data relating to the company’s long-awaited liquid biopsy cancer screening test.
Exact Sciences’ blood test would screen for multiple types of cancer, Conroy said at the virtual Cowen Liquid Biopsy Summit. Years-long research into biomarkers available in blood to screen for cancer shows promising early results to detect different cancers, Conroy said.
Stock prices jumped more than 25%, up to about $93.36 a share at 1:30 p.m.
The Madison-based diagnostics company gained national notoriety for its at-home colon-cancer screening test, Cologuard. In the years since the launch of Cologuard, the company has developed improvements to that test and researched new cancer-screening methods, such as the blood test.
By screening for various cancers through a single blood draw, Conroy said more patients who unknowingly have cancer can begin treatment at an earlier stage.
“Detecting earlier changes cancer outcomes more powerfully, we believe, than any cancer therapy,” Conroy said.
Exact Sciences, in partnership with Mayo Clinic, has been researching biomarkers for various cancers in blood for about seven years.
“The next step becomes a long and arduous process, and that is running robust prospective clinical trials.” Conroy said, adding that the Exact Sciences is well-prepared for running such tests, having done several in the past.
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