Boston Scientific's stent sales fall

Boston Scientific's stent sales fall

	Published : Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:54 By : Agencies Print this Story

BOSTON (AFX) - Boston Scientific Corp. on Wednesday said fourth-quarter sales of its Taxus drug-coated stent fell nearly 12 percent from the previous quarter, but the medical device maker expects the slumping stent market to rebound from recent safety worries.

Boston Scientific also said it expects total company sales for the final three months of 2006 to total $2.065 billion -- slightly below the $2.076 billion concensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Boston Scientific did not issue a profit forecast, and will release full fourth-quarter financial results Feb. 1. Analysts expect a profit of 11 cents per share, on average.

Boston Scientific said sales of the Taxus stent will total about $506 million in the fourth quarter -- down 12 percent from the third quarter's $572 million, and down 17 percent from the fourth quarter of 2005, when sales were $606 million.

After completing its $27 billion acquisition of Guidant Corp. in April, Natick-based Boston Scientific has struggled to overcome downturns in its two key heart device markets.

Drug-coated stent sales have fallen off amid recent concerns that the devices may put patients at slightly higher risk for blood clots than older bare-metal stents. And sales of the implanted defibrillators Boston Scientific acquired in the Guidant deal have been hurt by recalls and safety warnings of Guidant products.

On Monday, Boston Scientific reported fourth-quarter sales of its so-called cardiac rhythm devices including defibrillators and pacemakers had risen 10 percent from the third quarter to $489 million. The 29,000-employee company also said it planned to cut 500 to 600 jobs from its cardiac rhythm division.

But Boston Scientific says the cardiac rhythm market appears to be rebounding.

And President and CEO Jim Tobin said Wednesday the company also is optimistic about drug-coated stents, despite recent declining use of those models compared with bare-metal versions.

While Boston Scientific acknowledges a slightly higher risk of clotting from drug-coated stents, it maintains those risks are outweighed by the newer models' benefits. The drug coatings are intended to help prevent formation of scar tissue that can form new blockages after surgery to implant stents, metal-mesh tubes that prop open coronary arteries.

'We remain optimistic the market will recover over time,' Tobin said.

Shares of Boston Scientific rose 23 cents to close at $17.83 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Boston Scientific estimates drug-coated stents account for about 75 percent of all stent sales in the United States, and it expects the figure to return to more than 80 percent -- the level that drug-coated models enjoyed before recent research highlighted the clotting risk.

Although rivals hope to reach the U.S. market with their own drug-coated stents soon, Boston Scientific now roughly splits that market with Johnson & Johnson's Cypher stent.