Exact Sciences tests 4 million people. Earns $1.5 billion

Exact Sciences tests 4 million people. Earns $1.5 billion
15 Takeaways from Exact Sciences quarterly earnings call

Last week, Exact Sciences, announced their fourth quarter results. Here are 15 takeaways from their earnings call.

Let’s start with some numbers:

◘  Total revenue was $466.3 million in Q4 2020 (compare that to $295.6 million in Q4 2019 and $408.4 million in Q3 2020)

◘  Screening revenue was $249.7 million, an increase of 9% driven by Cologuard volume growth (compare that to $214.6 million in Q3, 2020)

◘  Precision Oncology revenue was $117.6 million (compare that to $91.6 million in Q3, 2020)

◘  COVID-19 testing revenue was $99.1 million (compare that to $102.2 million in Q3, 2020)

These takeaways are based on the Q4 2020 Earnings Call. Kevin Conroy, Chairman and CEO, Exact Sciences and Jeff Elliott, Chief Financial Officer, Exact Sciences made these remarks.

Takeaways

1/  The company has tested more than 4 million people across all tests and generated nearly $1.5 billion in total revenue.

2/ Approximately 8,000 new healthcare providers have ordered Cologuard during the quarter, and nearly 227,000 have ordered it since launch.

3/ Exact Sciences expects to increase its sales and marketing expense to $850 million to (a) expand advertising for Cologuard with a campaign to reach the 45 to 49 age group, and (b) for the addition of a women’s health field sales team.

4/ The USPSTF (United States Preventive Services Task Force) has issued draft guidelines, lowering their recommended screening age to 45 which is to be finalized by the middle of 2021.

5/ The company feels that the convenience of at-home nature of Cologuard and a very low false-positive rate (5%) makes it well suited to screen the age group of 45-49 (which is a $3 billion addressable market).

6/ The company is excited to see Humana covering Cologuard at age 45 since last week, joining Aetna as the other major health plan to do so.

7/ Exact Sciences believes that Cologuard 2.0 raises the accuracy bar expanding the growth opportunity in colon cancer screening.

8/ In Q4 2020, Exact Sciences partnered with Thrive, CancerSEEK (a healthcare company dedicated to incorporating earlier cancer detection into routine medical care). This partnership and adoption of multi-cancer screening positions Exact Sciences as a leader in a $25 billion+ market.

9/ Exact Sciences has also announced acquisition of Ashion Analytics (a CLIA certified and CAP-accredited sequencing lab based in Phoenix, Arizona) to accelerate the development of their oncology portfolio.

10/ The company expects over $100 million of revenue from rescreening this year.

11/ Now that the company has entered into the care continuum with a variety of tests – from Cologuard to Oncotype DX, to MRD, to CancerSEEK, and liver tests (most recent), they’re excited about the impact Exact Sciences can have at the health system level.

12/ Exact Sciences expects 2021 to be the biggest year in the company’s history, as far as converting fax orders to electronic ordering is considered.

13/ When asked about the full-year impact on Cologuard volumes, Kevin Conroy, Chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences, said, “I’ll point to the fact that although colonoscopy screenings were off 25% in the fourth quarter, Cologuard was up 9%. Until you get people back into the office for wellness visits, you’re going to see a diminished impact across screenings. Cologuard is solving some of this problem. So, we’re getting a greater share of screening than we did this time last year.”

14/ Colon cancer blood test. Exact Sciences is conducting a study called BLUE-C (a prospective 10,000 patient trials) to seek FDA approval for Cologuard 2.0 and colon cancer blood test. BLUE-C will compare the blood test, Cologuard and a FIT test. 100+ sites are enrolling patients.

15/ The three huge opportunities (which, when put together amounts to about $60 billion total available market) according to Exact Sciences are:

◘ Colon cancer screening

◘ Multi-cancer screening

◘ MRD (Minimum Residual Disease)

References: 

Exact Sciences (EXAS) Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript  (The Motley Fool)

Exact Sciences Announces Fourth Quarter 2020 Results (Exact Sciences)

_

COVID-19: The Way Forward for Gastroenterology Practices
COVID-19 is a double whammy of both clinical and business disruption. This ebook will help you explore possible scenarios and be a guide in your plans for the future.