Area Development
Exact Sciences will build additional laboratory facilities at 650 Forward Drive on the near west side in Madison, Wisconsin.

According to company officials, scheduled to open in mid-2019, the new facilities will enable the company to create more than 250 jobs over five years as Exact Sciences adds capacity to meet increasing demand for Cologuard, its noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test.

Exact Sciences Chairman & CEO Kevin Conroy said the company is now owner of an existing office building on the same site, previously known as 601 Rayovac Drive, now named 1 Exact Lane. Formerly leased by the company, the office space currently houses approximately 350 members of Exact Sciences' growing Customer Care, IT and administrative teams. Future renovations could increase its capacity to approximately 1,000 employees.

"Doctors and patients are increasingly choosing the convenience of Cologuard over other colon cancer screening methods," said Conroy. "Expanding in our hometown allows us to maintain Exact Sciences' unique, customer-focused culture that's made Cologuard a tremendous success. We're excited to add to our teams and facilities to help even more people get screened with Cologuard for colon cancer."

Together, the new lab and expanded office space will form a world-class employee campus, complete with a cafeteria, health facilities and parking structures to attract top talent and support employee well-being.

Once finished, the new lab facility and the company's existing lab, located at 145 Badger Road, will give Exact Sciences a capacity to process more than 4.5 million Cologuard tests per year.

The Badger Road lab will continue operations and expansions are already underway to increase its capacity from about 1 million Cologuard tests per year to 2.5 million or more tests per year. The Badger Road expansion activities will allow Exact Sciences to scale and continue meeting demand while the second lab facility of 2 million tests per year is built on Forward Drive, officials explained.

"Today's announcement continues the great story of this industry-leading, Madison-based biotech company," said City of Madison mayor Paul Soglin. "Exact Sciences is not only a great employer, but is also an extremely engaged member of our community, contributing to causes and organizations that make Madison such a great place to live, work and raise a family. We are proud to have them here and look forward to Exact Sciences' continued success."

Exact Sciences said it will work with the City of Madison and Urban League of Greater Madison on the Park Edge Park Ridge (PEPR) neighborhood employment center to conduct job training and recruitment seminars to fill jobs being created by the second lab.

"Exact Sciences is a longtime supporter of the Urban League's job training and economic development programs and we're excited to continue working with them to create high-quality jobs that strengthen our local communities and provide new opportunities for families to get ahead," said Ruben L. Anthony, Jr., President & CEO, Urban League of Greater Madison.