Cordis to Exit Drug-Eluting Stent Market

June 15, 2011—Cordis Corporation (Bridgewater, NJ) announced it will no longer pursue the development of the Nevo sirolimus-eluting coronary stent and will also stop manufacturing the Cypher and Cypher Select Plus sirolimus-eluting coronary stents by the end of 2011. The company will continue to focus on cardiovascular care through its Cordis and Biosense Webster (Diamond Bar, CA) businesses.

According to the company, Cordis will expand its portfolio of vascular solutions for endovascular and cardiology procedures while focusing on access, diagnostic, and therapeutic products for cardiology procedures; products to diagnose, access, and treat lower extremity disease; and the Incraft stent graft system, an investigational device for treating abdominal aortic aneurysm. On May 23, Cordis announced that it received US Food and Drug Administration approval for the ExoSeal vascular closure device.

Biosense Webster will continue to develop and market products for the electrophysiology market with cardiac diagnostic, therapeutic, and mapping tools. These products include navigation systems and ablation therapy.



Cordis intends to close its manufacturing facilities in Cashel, Ireland, where the Nevo stent was to be produced, and in San German, Puerto Rico, the manufacturing site for the Cypher stent products. The company will also consolidate its research and development project teams in Fremont, California. Overall, the company expects to reduce 900 to 1,000 positions, subject to any consultation procedures on these plans in countries where required.

Cordis’ parent company, Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ), announced that it expects to record an after-tax restructuring charge in the range of $500 to $600 million in the second quarter of 2011 as a result of the Cordis plans.

According to Johnson & Johnson, the dynamics in the drug-eluting stent market have changed considerably in recent years and continue to evolve in areas such as demand, pricing, reimbursement, and regulatory requirements for breakthrough new technologies. The company stated that unlicensed competition from products that infringe Cordis patents, both owned and licensed, has eroded the Cypher stent's pricing, sales, and market share, and has dampened the prospects for the Nevo stent's commercialization. At the same time, long-term data show that some competitive drug-eluting stents will meet patients’ medical needs once Cordis exits the market.

In related news, on June 7, Boston Scientific Corporation (Natick, MA) announced that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the decision of the US District Court for the District of Delaware, finding all four patents in a suit involving Johnson & Johnson to be invalid. Boston Scientific stated that as part of a 2007 suit, Johnson & Johnson alleged that Boston Scientific's Promus everolimus-eluting coronary stent system infringed these four Cordis patents, known as the Wright/Falotico patents. The patents relate to the drug and polymer coatings for drug-eluting stents.