Exact didn’t get Cologuard Plus price hike in preliminary CLFS, says Wolfe

After the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, published its preliminary Clinical Lab Fee Schedule, or CLFS, preliminary rate determination for 2025 yesterday, Wolfe Research pointed out that the proposed Cologuard Plus rate is unchanged from Cologuard 1.0, while also noting that this is the preliminary proposal. At the June CLFS Annual Meeting, Exact Sciences had proposed a 1.25-times price increase for Cologuard Plus and in July an independent panel voted in favor of crosswalking by a 5-4 vote in what “was a closer vote than expected,” the analyst tells investors. The firm, which viewed the probability of success of garnering a price increase in the preliminary schedule as “well below 50%” and said it believed “investors agreed,” noted that it did not expect Exact shares to be under material pressure on this news. The firm has an Outperform rating and $75 price target on the stock, which is down $1.97, or 3%, to $65.79 in Thursday afternoon trading.