Boston Scientific is the “heart” of Massachusetts

Boston Scientific, a manufacturer of heart devices, has experienced three recalls in 2007 and eight recalls in 2006 in its pacemaker and defibrillator division. However, in 2008, the company only had one minor recall in a newly acquired stent business. They soon after closed that division.

Hopefully, the good year for the company will serve as the foreshadowing of a brighter future. The company is an important one for the local economy in Natick, Massachusetts. The manufacturer employs 2,000 people in the state and is one of the state’s largest publicly traded businesses.

Boston Scientific is best known for it’s successful, “blockbuster” Taxus drug-coated stent line. The issues with the companies recalls have encouraged suspicion about the quality of Boston Scientifics products. There are some specific concerns that baremetal stents may be more safe than drug-coated stents. And with two major competitors recently joining the marketplace, it won’t be a perfectly easy road ahead for Boston Scientific.

CEO Jim Tobin reported progress all around during a meeting on Wednesday. The FDA has approved all of their devices that had once been delayed and Tobin was looking forward to being able to wipe Boston Scientific’s slate clean of any so-called “warning letters.” He expects this to occur within a few months.

Tobin also believes that the trend of bare-metal stents being preferred over drug-coated stents began last year.

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