Boston Scientific (BSX) has been vexed by problems with its stents, one of its largest businesses. There have been several medical research reports which say that the drug coated stents that the company markets can cause severe heart problems.
Now, BSX has been charged with "inadequate record-keeping and reporting following the deaths of five patients implanted with an experimental device to treat a dangerous ballooning of the body’s main artery." The product in question is a stent graft which was designed to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms
Reuters writes that the clinical trials started in 2003 and ended in 2006, after Boston Scientific became aware of fractures in the device and scrapped the program.
BSX hardly needs more bad PR. It took on billions of dollars in debt when it bought medical device company Guidant. Some analysts are concerned that the company’s falling cash flow cannot cover its debt service.
The news makes the shares of BSX which traded at $28 in December 2005 less likely to recover from their current $13 level.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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