Exact Sciences raises $245M in follow-on

Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:EXAS) raised $245 million through the sale of 7 million shares at $35 in a follow-on underwritten by Jefferies, BofA Merrill Lynch, Baird, William Blair, Cowen, BTIG and Craig-Hallum Capital Group. The price is a 4% discount to Exact Sciences' closing price of $36.59 on Tuesday, when it proposed the offering after market hours. Exact lost $1.89 to $34.70 on Wednesday.

Exact Sciences gained 12% on May 31 when insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) said it will cover the company's colorectal cancer screening assay Cologuard. Commercial payers have increasingly extended coverage to Cologuard since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force began including the test among its guidelines in June 2016, putting the test on equal footing with colonoscopy and fecal immunohistochemical test (FIT). In April, the company raised its 2017 guidance after reporting stronger-than-expected first quarter sales of Cologuard (see BioCentury, May 5)...