Which analysts say, likely means that Boston will not be unable to get approval for a new drug-coated coronary stent, until the first quarter of 2007, rather than the final period of 2006, as Boston had hoped.
Boston and Johnson & Johnson are now the only two companies on the US market with drug-coated stents, according to the July 18, 2006, Chicago Tribune.
Last year, Boston paid $750 million, the Tribune says, to settle claims that it broke a contract to jointly manufacture stents by setting up a secret factory in Ireland.
The domestic market MX says, is dominated by the Taxus stent from Boston and the Cypher stent from Cordis Corp, a Johnson & Johnson company. Cypher received FDA approval in 2003, and Taxus gained approval in 2004.
However, there was more bad news for Boston in June 2006, when the Wall Street Journal reported that some US hospitals were reducing their use of Boston's top product, drug-coated heart stents, after a Swiss study found that uncoated stents had a lower rate of complication.
Information for injured parties can be found at Lawyers and Settlements.com
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/boston_scientific_guidant.html
Evelyn Pringle
evelyn.pringle@sbcglobal.net
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