Boston Scientific

Under new legislation floated in Minnesota, medical device manufacturers could wind up paying the entire bill for a patient's treatment and rehabilitation when a pacemaker or defibrillator is recalled. Congressman Tony Cornish (R) introduced the legislation Monday, saying it is unfair for either Medicare or private insurers to have to pay for a device maker's mistakes. Leading device companies Medtronic, Guidant and Boston Scientific all have production facilities in the state. Device …

Medical device companies are winning venture capital funding that until recently had been going to biotech companies. Last year, VC investments in biotech and medical device companies rose to a five-year high of $6 billion, according to the annual MoneyTree Survey. Investment in biotech ventures fell 7 percent but rose 25 percent in medical devices. The Wall Street Journal reports that investors are betting the market for devices will continue to grow as the US population ages. …

Last year, just as it was putting itself up for sale to J&J, device maker Guidant was the feature of a series of articles in The New York Times in which it was accused of poorly communicating about problems with its pacemakers to physicians. Eventually, several pacemakers were recalled. Note that replacing a pacemaker means expensive and painful surgery, so this was not a trivial decision.

Now the Times features some of the discoveries from one of a number of …

Attorneys for patients who must have Guidant pacemakers removed say the company's offer of $2,500 doesn't come anywhere near covering the costs of the procedure. The pacemaker recall affects thousands of patients who learned they have faulty pacemakers and defibrillators when Guidant disclosed a series of serious malfunctions involving the units. The replacement surgery is proving difficult, heart specialists say, because of a risk that the lead attaching the device to the heart can …

Boston Scientific said its profits rose 12 percent in the fourth quarter despite declining sales. The company said overall sales were down 4 percent. Sales of the company's best known product, the Taxus drug-coated stent, fell 12 percent to $606 million from $691 million. More details are expected today on how Boston Scientific plans to handle the quality control problems raised recently by the FDA. Article

Boston Scientific CEO James Tobin meets with FDA officials today to discuss concerns over quality control issues at several of the device maker's facilities. Last week, the FDA delivered a stern rebuke to the company, saying it has failed to correct deficiencies despite repeated warnings. Some Wall Street analysts have speculated that the regulatory problems could delay Boston Scientific's acquisition of Guidant. Not surprisingly, the company is adopting a conciliatory tone in its …

Canada's Angiotech Pharmaceuticals said it will pay $758 million in cash for privately held American Medical Instruments holdings, a maker of custom needles. In the medical device world, Angiotech is perhaps best known for its collaboration with Boston Scientific on the successful Taxus stent. Angiotech plans to use the acquisition to expand into markets for specialized products for general, plastic and ophthalmic surgery as well as the vascular surgery market.

- see this article from the New York Times

The FDA warned Boston Scientific that quality control problems at six of its manufacturing facilities still need to be addressed. The FDA warned the company has not fixed "continuing serious deficiencies." In the worst case scenario, the warning could mean that the device maker might be prevented from introducing new products until changes are made to correct the problems. The warning came only hours after Boston Scientific closed its $27.2 billion merger with Guidant on Tuesday. Some …

Johnson & Johnson elected not to raise its bid for Giant, making Boston Scientific the winner of the bidding war over the device manufacturer. Giant officially accepted the $27.2 billion deal this morning. Under the terms of the agreement, Boston Scientific agreed to sell off Guidant's vascular intervention and endovascular business to Abbott Laboratories to address a potential regulatory roadblock to the deal. The deal must still be approved by regulators.

- see this …

Johnson & Johnson has until today to raise its offer for Guidant. Many analysts think its unlikely J&J will fork over more than the $24.2 billion it has already offered to beat a larger bid from Boston Scientific. But on the other hand, it is increasingly obvious how important Guidant's business could be to the company's future. J&J turned in final results for 2005 today, reporting so-so drug sales but great numbers from its medical device and diagnostic services units, with …