Exact Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAS) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Mayo Clinic. Exact also announced that it has closed an $8.2-million private placement of 4.3 million shares of its common stock.

The collaborative relationship with Mayo Clinic is focused on developing patient-friendly diagnostics that reduce deaths from colorectal cancer. According to projections by the American Cancer Society there will be 146,970 new cases of colorectal cancer and 49,200 deaths attributable to the disease in 2009 in the United States. It is the second most common cause of cancer-related death following lung cancer.

Under the license agreement, Exact has secured exclusive rights to intellectual property developed by David Ahlquist, M.D., Mayo Clinic. The licensed patents cover advances in sample processing, analytical testing and data analysis associated with non-invasive, stool-based DNA screening for colorectal cancer. Under the license agreement, Exact will make up-front, milestone and royalty payments to Mayo Clinic, and will provide funding for future work in Dr. Ahlquist’s lab.

Exact and Mayo Clinic also have agreed to enter into a broad research and development relationship with Dr. Ahlquist’s laboratory. The relationship will provide Exact with an experienced research and development team that will focus its initial efforts on the company’s colorectal screening test. Exact retains exclusive rights to commercialize the breakthroughs that result from this collaboration.

“We are pleased to close our funding round and enter into what we expect to be a long, productive relationship with Dr. Ahlquist and Mayo Clinic,” said Kevin T. Conroy, president and chief executive of Exact. “The opportunity to meaningfully improve both the detection and prevention of colorectal cancer with our technologies is very real. We’re committed to working hard with Dr. Ahlquist and his colleagues to take full advantage of that opportunity.

“There are very few ways to non-invasively detect this deadly, but highly treatable cancer. Our relationship with Mayo Clinic secures exclusive access to additional test methods, strengthens our intellectual property portfolio and complements the strong relationship that we have with Dr. Bert Vogelstein’s laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.”

“My colleagues and I share Exact Sciences’ strong commitment to reducing the death toll from colorectal and other gastrointestinal cancers,” Dr. Ahlquist said.