For example, the company is looking to add heart valves and pumps to its product lineup as it resh

For example, the company is looking to add heart valves and pumps to its product lineup as it reshapes its medical device portfolio. Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso indicated that J&J sees other attractive technologies in the cardiac device market, and could enter those sectors either through the acquisition of another company or by organically developing products. Heart valves and left ventricular assist devices—pumps implanted in patients with advanced heart failure who are awaiting a transplant—are two such opportunities.

“Both are interesting,” Caruso said at an investor conference on Sept. 13. “We are interested in looking at them.”

J&J announced its plans to stop selling drug-coated heart stents in June, citing the stents as a “commodity business” subject to pricing wars.

According to Caruso, the company would consider acquiring a heart valve or heart pump manufacturer, but only at the right price. “Unfortunately, they are overvalued today,” Caruso said. He did not name any specific companies.

Caruso also said the downturn in healthcare use that has hurt device sales over the past six quarters is stabilizing, but the industry remains under pressure.

Patients continue to delay treatment due to high unemployment and steeper insurance deductibles. He predicted that industry procedure volumes will improve as the healthcare reform law brings more patients into the marketplace beginning in 2014.

Along the lines of finding new markets, J&J’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery division recently snapped up SterilMed Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SterilMed provides products and services including medical device reprocessing, equipment repair, and pre-owned equipment sales that, according to the company, help healthcare providers lower medical device and equipment costs, while reducing the amount of environmental waste they generate.

The acquisition broadens Ethicon’s portfolio and enables expansion in arapidly growing market segment, while also bringing “added scale, scope and experience” to SterilMed, according to a statement released by J&J’s leadership.

“The time is right for Ethicon Endo-Surgery and SterilMed to come together, given the rapid changes occurring in the U.S. healthcare system,” said Karen Licitra, Ethicon Endo-Surgery chairman.
“Together, we can continue our focus ondeveloping innovative surgical solutions, while providing healthcare facilities a wider range of flexible product options to save money, reduce medical waste, and maintain quality care for patients.”

SterilMed will be managed as part of the Ethicon Endo-Surgery franchise, but will continue to operate as a standalone company and retain the name SterilMed.

Brian Sullivan, SterilMed’s chairman and CEO, said: “Becoming part of the Ethicon Endo-Surgery franchise, one of the largest and most respected medical device companies in the world, will have a positive impact on our business, while also expanding our product portfolio.”