On March 17, 2026 Exact Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ: EXAS), a leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, reported four presentations at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting highlighting new data in molecular residual disease (MRD) testing and multi-cancer early detection (MCED). The meeting will take place from April 17–22, 2026, in San Diego, CA.

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Exact Sciences will present new findings from the NSABP B-59/GBG-96-GeparDouze trial evaluating its tumor-informed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) test, Oncodetect, in early triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), along with updated performance data from its multi-biomarker class MCED program supporting the Cancerguard test. Together, these results reinforce the company’s strategy to help detect cancer earlier and monitor disease after treatment.

"Our goal is to use molecular information to guide cancer care at every stage," said Jorge Garces, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Exact Sciences. "By combining tumor-informed ctDNA analysis with multi-biomarker detection approaches, we’re building tools that give clinicians a clearer view of cancer biology and how disease evolves over time."

Detailed information on the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) presentations is provided below:

Expanding the clinical utility of MRD detection in breast and colorectal cancer

Title: Whole-exome sequencing tumor-informed circulating tumor DNA detection after completion of neoadjuvant treatment predicts non-pCR and distant recurrence in patients with early triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)—Results from a sub-study of the NSABP B-59/GBG-96-GeparDouze Trial
Presenter: Dr. Marija Balic
Session: Saturday, April 18, 2026. Aiming for Cure: Perioperative Clinical Trials
Oral number: CT013
Key findings: Pre-surgery ctDNA status following neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) was strongly associated with both pathologic complete response (pCR) and distant recurrence-free interval (dRFI). These results highlight the potential utility of post-NAT presurgical ctDNA status as an early indicator of treatment resistance and risk stratification.

Title: Investigating the value of testing for actionable alterations and circulating tumor DNA in breast and colorectal cancers
Presenter: Dr. Gargi Basu
Session: Monday, April 20, 2026. Molecular/Cellular Biology and Genetics: Genomic Profiling to Understand Cancer Biology
Poster number: 3243
Location: Poster section 22
Key findings: Comprehensive tumor profiling identified actionable genomic alterations in nearly all breast and colorectal cancer patients tested for ctDNA. Approximately half of the samples had at least one alteration associated with FDA-approved therapies.

Advancing multi-cancer early detection with multi-biomarker innovation

Title: Performance of an optimized methylation-protein multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test classifier
Session: Sunday, April 19, 2026, Clinical Research, Early Detection Biomarkers 1
Poster number: 1109
Location: Poster section 43
Key findings: An optimized methylation–protein (MP V2) multi-cancer early detection classifier demonstrated improved early-stage sensitivity compared with the prior version while maintaining high specificity, supporting its potential to enhance detection of cancers at earlier, more treatable stages.

Title: The complementary contributions of methylation and protein biomarker classes in a multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test
Session: Sunday, April 19, 2026, Clinical Research, Early Detection Biomarkers 1
Poster number: 1108
Location: Poster section 43
Key findings: Results presented demonstrate that methylation and protein biomarker classes provide complementary and independent contributions to cancer signal detection, particularly in early-stage disease, supporting the value of a multi-biomarker approach in MCED testing.

(Press release, Exact Sciences, MAR 17, 2026, View Source [SID1234663612])