Madison’s Exact Sciences will be acquired by Abbott health care company

Abbott Laboratories is buying Madison-based biotechnology company Exact Sciences in a $23 billion deal, the companies announced Thursday.

The companies have entered into a definitive agreement that will make Exact Sciences a subsidiary of the Lake County, Illinois-based health care products company. Under the agreement, Abbott will acquire all outstanding shares of Exact Sciences for about $105 per share. 

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, the companies said. The deal must be approved by Exact Sciences shareholders, as well as regulators. It’s already been unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors.

On a call with investors Thursday morning, Abbott CEO Robert Ford said Abbott is excited to bring Exact Sciences into the company’s fold.

“The team at Exact Sciences has built a remarkable legacy with a culture of bold thinking and a relentless pursuit of innovation,” Ford said. “Their ability to challenge standard conventions and deliver transformative solutions in cancer diagnostics has been extraordinary.”

Exact Sciences has about 7,000 employees, about half of them based in Wisconsin, and is best known for its colorectal cancer screening test called Cologuard. The company was founded in Boston but moved its headquarters to Madison in 2009, according to the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce.

In a statement, Ford said Abbott has nearly 800 employees in Wisconsin. He said the Badger state has “long played an important role in Abbott’s success.”

Abbott has been looking to expand into the cancer screening and diagnostics space over the last year and believes Exact Sciences is “the perfect company to combine forces with,” Ford said on the investor call.

Bloomberg first reported the acquisition talks on Wednesday.

“This is the largest transaction in health care in the last two years,” Ford said on the investor call. “And it’s the largest transaction ever in the diagnostic space.”

After the deal closes, Abbott says Exact Sciences will maintain its presence in Madison.

Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce President Zach Brandon said it’s a recognition that the community’s talent pool helped Exact Sciences grow from just a two-person team to a company with about 7,000 employees.

“Being based here, growing up here has been one of the secret sauces to their success,” he said. “The fact that Abbott sees that, realizes that and understands that that company elsewhere may not have found the same level of success.”

He also said the chamber was excited to welcome Abbott to the Madison business community, calling the company’s planned investment “the largest” in the Madison area’s history.

After the acquisition, Exact Sciences CEO Kevin Conroy will remain with the company in an advisory role to support the transition, the companies say.

In a video from the company, Conroy said Abbott’s headquarters is 10-miles south of the Wisconsin border and both companies are committed to the state.

“That commitment just got bigger,” he said.

He also said joining Abbott will help Exact Sciences reach more patients and advance early detection.

“They serve 2 billion patients every year all over the globe,” he said. “Now we can bring our advanced cancer diagnostics, these tests, to people outside of the U.S. and all over the world.”

Earlier this year, Exact Sciences laid off 4 percent of its workforce. That includes 200 in Wisconsin, about 80 jobs at its Madison headquarters and about 120 remote positions elsewhere in the state.

The Madison company is expected to generate more than $3 billion in revenue this year, Ford said. On the investor call, Abbott Chief Financial Officer Philip Boudreau said the acquisition would grow Abbott’s sales, diagnostic business and gross margins.

Beyond financials, Conroy said the two companies also share Midwestern values.

“We’re 100 miles apart, so there are so many deep similarities — our work ethic, our inspired innovation or the way we value people,” he said. “Those are strong similarities between our two companies.”