Exact Sciences Corp. needs new HQ to accommodate growth
Construction expected to be finished by early 2020
Exact Sciences Corp., a biotechnology company that has grown rapidly since moving to Madison less than a decade ago, broke ground this week on a new headquarters building to accommodate that growth.
The new headquarters will be built at University Research Park on Charmany Drive. Construction is expected to be completed by early 2020.
Exact Sciences, which relocated from Boston to Madison in 2009, makes the Cologuard test for the early detection of colorectal cancer.
The company’s staff has grown from a few employees when it moved to more than 1,600.
Exact Sciences’ stock was the bestperforming Wisconsin-based stock in 2017, going from $13.36 to $52.54 per share.
“From our headquarters, Exact Sciences will continue to lead the war on cancer through early detection,” Kevin
Conroy, chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences, said in a news release.
“Our product pipeline is strong, and we expect this site to be home to new breakthroughs in cancer screening and diagnostics that will better the lives of people around the world.”
The new 138,000-square-foot, fivestory building, which will be called Innovation One, will put team members and departments under one roof, instead of dispersed across Madison.
The new building will connect to Exact Sciences’ existing research facility. Its manufacturing will remain in a standalone structure.
The University Research Park where Exact Sciences is building out its offices is run by a nonprofit corporation with ties to the University of WisconsinMadison and houses more than 140 companies.
“The Wisconsin Idea holds that science and innovation should not remain trapped at the university, but rather should be applied to better the lives and health of the people of Wisconsin and the world,” said Rebecca Blank, chancellor of the University of WisconsinMadison and president of the University Research Park board of trustees. “In this spirit, we are thrilled to have the advances of Exact Sciences originating from University Research Park and look forward to the company’s continued growth.”