Boston Scientific to Pay $296M Settlement

Boston Scientific Corp. will pay $296 million to settle a federal probe into the company’s Guidant unit, according to the Natick, Mass., firm. The alleged action took place before the firm’s 2006 purchase of Guidance.

The investigation involved product advisories issued by Guidant in 2005. In 2007, Boston Scientific agreed to various settlements over heart patients’ legal claims that Guidant knowingly sold defibrillators with potentially life-threatening defects over a three-year period.

Under the terms of the agreement, Guidant will plead to two misdemeanor charges related to failure to include information in reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“We are pleased this investigation has been resolved,” said Ray Elliott, president and CEO of Boston Scientific. “Guidant and its employees acted in good faith and believed they complied with applicable laws and regulations. We elected to resolve this matter so we could put it behind us and devote our full energies and resources to developing our innovative technologies.”

Products involved in the investigation were the VENTAK PRIZM 2, the CONTAK RENEWAL and the CONTAK RENEWAL 2 devices.