Boston Scientific says Guidant deal on track
By Stephen Heuser
Globe staff
Boston Scientific executives said today that they do not expect to resolve their warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration until early fall, but consider their $27 billion acquisition of Guidant Corp. to be on schedule for a closing at the end of March.
In a conference call after the company's year-end earnings report was released this morning, chief executive Jim Tobin said Boston Scientific could take the steps needed to address the FDA's concerns in "three to four months," but agency inspections could continue for the rest of the summer. The FDA sent the Natick medical-device maker a warning letter on Jan. 25 sharply criticizing its quality control.
With regard to the merger, which still awaits federal antitrust clearance, Boston Scientific's top lawyer said the company had "very productive conversations" with the Federal Trade Commission and did not expect the merger to be delayed by antitrust regulators.
Boston Scientific's year-end earnings report showed total 2005 sales of $6.3 billion, up 12 percent from 2004. But the comparison is complicated by the fact that the top-selling Taxus stent was not on the market for all of 2004.
The company's profits took a tumble, from $1.24 to 75 cents a share, largely because of a huge legal payout to former business partner Medinol.
Sales of stents have been slipping in recent months, as rival Johnson & Johnson gains ground on the market-leading Taxus. Fourth-quarter figures showed a 16 percent drop from last year's sales in Boston Scientific's cardiovascular division, which is dominated by stents, although company executives said the Taxus market share seems to have stabilized at 54 percent.
