Cordis-Medinol stent deal
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Cordis will be the exclusive global distributor of a family of bare-metal stents developed by Israel-based Medinol, the firms announce May 23. Cordis expects to help Medinol file for approval of the first products outside the United States in the second half of 2007, and stateside in the first half of 2008. Cordis, maker of the Cypher sirolimus-eluting stent, does not currently offer a bare-metal coronary stent. The deal comes as sales of drug-eluting stents have come under pressure due to safety concerns; Johnson & Johnson also recently halted development of its Conor CoStar paclitaxel-eluting stent after the U.S. pivotal trial failed (1"The Gray Sheet" May 14, 2007, p. 9). Medinol has a history of patent litigation against its former partner, Boston Scientific, which paid Medinol $750 million in a 2005 settlement (2"The Gray Sheet" Sept. 26, 2005, p. 11)...