I'm researching the 2018 co-marketing deal between Exact...

I'm researching the 2018 co-marketing deal between Exact Sciences (Cologaurd test) and Pfizer. A 3 year deal with a $70 million plus marketing spend and equal share of profits. It appears to have been very successful, if the Exact Sciences share price chart from 2018 onwards is anything to go by!

Exact Sciences became leaders in the US colorectal cancer screening market. They received FDA approval in 2014, but things didn't really take off until they signed the deal with Pfizer, which was an unusual collaboration at the time. Pfizer utilised it's established relationships with doctors and healthcare systems to expedite uptake while Exact Sciences manages the test kit manufacturing and lab processes, standards, quality control etc.

Note, Cologuard, which has FDA approval, is a home faecal/DNA based test and costs $US480. It is a highly accurate test for stages 1-4 with similar sensitivity and specificity to Colostat. It's currently under threat from emerging liquid biopsy tests (blood based DNA screening tests) which are similarly expensive, but offer the more popular option of not having to DIY and handle your own poo! DNA blood tests don't fit into standard pathology lab infrastructure (ELISA machines) like Colostat does.

Perhaps Rhythm plans to model their market entry in a similar fashion? It's certainly a great precedent to follow and has been flagged by Director Trevor Lockett in the past. Co-marketing enables Rhythm to keep hold of it's IP... Exact Sciences ended its collaboration with Pfizer in 2021 by which time they had a strong market foothold.

Aside from the cost factor, Rhythm also has the huge added attraction for whichever pharmaceutical company they might partner with of potentially developing the same test for other cancers in the near to mid future. Surely this would be very appealing to big pharma...plenty of upside?!

I'm interested to hear what others think?