Strong Quarter 2 boosts Abbott's outlook, while Johnson & Johnson's lacklustre DES (drug eluting stent) sales disappoint

Abbott surprised analysts this month with second-quarter results that outperformed expectations. Although the company's revenues for the quarter slipped 0.4% from last year's level to $5.5bn, this was $45m more than what analysts had anticipated. Medical product sales grew nearly 18% and were driven by Abbott's vascular division, which benefited from the addition of Guidant's vascular portfolio, including its Xience drug eluting stent (DES), acquired as part of the Boston-Guidant acquisition. Sales of the company's core vascular products soared 50% during the quarter, due to the US launch of its StarClose vascular closure device and the continued momentum of the roll-out of its Xact/Emboshield carotid stent system. The firm says it is planning more product launches for rest of the year, with a full European launch of Xience slated for the end of the third quarter/early fourth quarter, with Zomaxx following closely behind.