J&J Shows Interest in Expanding Product Lineup

Johnson & Johnson is looking to add heart valves and heart 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 through the acquisition of another company or by organically developing products. Heart valves and left ventricular assist devices — @font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Helvetica Neue”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } @font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Helvetica Neue”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } @font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Helvetica Neue”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } @font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Helvetica Neue”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1 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 utilization 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 predicts that industry procedure volumes will improve as the healthcare reform law brings more patients into the marketplace beginning in 2014.