Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

EXAS CC notes: USPSTF counted Cologuard tests that found a pre-cancerous lesion but no cancer per se as false positives, which lowered the calculated specificity of the test to 84% rather than 87% (the number reported in the NEJM publication).

Moreover, USPSTF compared Cologuard use every year to the approved screening options, even though EXAS markets Cologuard as a procedure that is best used every three years (and hence it generates fewer false positives than if used every year).

These are presumably among the reasons that USPSTF classified Cologuard as an “alternative” screening tool rather than a “recommended” screening tool for colorectal cancer.

Cost-cutting based on USPSTF's action is a possibility—will be discussed on EXAS' 3Q15 CC.

p.s. Today's CC has a small slide set, but one has to play the webcast (http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/t4bsvtic ) to download the slide set.