Johnson & Johnson to Stop Making Drug-Coated Heart Stents
Johnson & Johnson announced on Wednesday that it would stop manufacturing drug-coated heart stents by the end of the year, abandoning an intensely competitive $4 billion market after a series of setbacks for the company and rising concerns about the use of stents in some patients.
The company is expecting to take a $500 million to $600 million restructuring charge this quarter and to trim 900 to 1,000 jobs this year.
The announcement by the company and its subsidiary Cordis, long expected by some analysts because of a dwindling market share, opens up more sales possibilities for three competitors.
The use of heart stents is being challenged as unnecessary for some patients. Stents are tiny devices inserted through blood vessels to keep arteries open in the heart. But research in recent years has suggested that stents are overused by doctors and that drugs may be a cheaper, safer and more effective way for many patients to avoid heart attacks or strokes.