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Exact Sciences Announces Group Health Cooperative as First Health Plan in Wisconsin to Cover Cologuard®
[September 22, 2014]

Exact Sciences Announces Group Health Cooperative as First Health Plan in Wisconsin to Cover Cologuard®


MADISON, Wis. --(Business Wire)--

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) today announced that Group Health Cooperative will be the first health plan in Wisconsin to offer Cologuard® to its patients. Cologuard is the first and only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved, noninvasive stool DNA screening test for colorectal cancer. Cologuard will be available to patients as part of their current laboratory benefits, covered by Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin (GHC-SCW), and can be prescribed by their primary care physicians.

Cologuard offers people 50 years and older who are at average risk for colorectal cancer an easy to use screening test which they can do in the privacy of their own home. Cologuard has been proven to find 92 percent of colorectal cancers in average risk patients with 87 percent specificity. Unlike many other screening options, Cologuard does not require medication, dietary restrictions or bowel preparation prior to taking the test. It is the first noninvasive screening test for colorectal cancer that analyzes both stool-based DNA and blood biomarkers to detect cancer and precancer. The Cologuard technology platform was co-developed by Exact Sciences Corp. and the Mayo Clinic.

"At Group Health Cooperative, we take pride in offering the most advanced cancer detection technology available," said Kevin Hayden, Chief Executive Officer of Group Health Cooperative. "With colorectal cancer in particular, a high level of non-compliance with existing screening options has hampered our ability to identify the disease in its early stages when it is most treatable. As an accurate and patient-friendly screening option, Cologuard represents a significant advance in the fight against colorectal cancer. Making Cologuard available will hopefully encourage patients to get regular screenings and, in turn, improve survival rates for this preventable cancer."

Colorectal cancer is highly preventable with screening. However, twenty-three million Americans between 50 and 75 are not getting screened as recommended and, as a result, colorectal cancer remains the second-leading cancer killer in the United States. For those whose cancer is detected at an earlier stage, the five-year survival rate can be greater than 90 percent.

"Exact Sciences is proud to be a Wisconsin-based company, making it especially fitting that one of the first health plans and clinics in the country to offer and cover Cologuard be in our own backyard," said Kevin Conroy, president, CEO and chairman of Exact Sciences Corp. "We look forward to working with Group Health Cooperative to give patients in Wisconsin access to this important new cancer screening technology."



Cologuard is designed to detect DNA alternations and blood released from cancer and precancerous colon lesions. The test requires a physician order. After the physician orders Cologuard, the kit is mailed directly to the patient's home. The patient then collects a stool sample in the Cologuard Collection Kit and sends the kit back to the Exact Sciences lab for testing through a pre-paid mailer. Patients learn of their results in as little as two weeks from their physician. Patients with a positive result will need to undergo colonoscopy.

Cologuard will be available to patients through their current laboratory benefits, covered by Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin (GHC-SCW), through their primary care physicians. Rx only.


For more information, visit www.CologuardTest.com or call 1-844-870-8870. More information on colon cancer and the importance of screening and early detection at http://www.beseengetscreened.com/. Visit www.exactsciences.com to sign up for the company's eNewsletter.

About Exact Sciences Corp.

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS) is a molecular diagnostics company focused on the early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer. The company has exclusive intellectual property protecting its noninvasive, molecular screening technology for the detection of colorectal cancer. Stool DNA technology is included in the colorectal cancer screening guidelines of the American Cancer Society and the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.exactsciences.com, follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @ExactSciences or find us on Facebook.

About Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin (GHC-SCW)

GHC-SCW is a non-profit cooperative, health plan, representing over 80,000 members. As a consumer-sponsored health plan, GHC-SCW provides or arranges for health insurance products and the delivery of both primary and specialty health care to members living or working in the Dane County community. For seven consecutive years, GHC-SCW has been ranked the top health plan in Wisconsin and among the top 10 health plans in the nation for quality in health care by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

Certain statements made in this news release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release may address the following subjects among others: statements regarding the sufficiency of our capital resources, our ability to secure favorable reimbursement rates from Medicare and other third-party payors, timing of our launch of a commercial product, our estimates of the available market size and our potential penetration, expected research and development expenses, expected general and administrative expenses and our expectations concerning our business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and our subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.


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