Boston Scientific — BrandWiki

Boston Scientific

Overview

Boston Scientific Corporation

type	Public
traded as	nyse: BSX S&P 500 component
isin	isin: US1011371077
founders	John Abele Peter Nicholas
hq location	Marlborough, Massachusetts, U.S.
key people	Michael F. Mahoney (Chairman and CEO) Jon Monson (CFO)
industry	Medical device
revenue	US$20.1 billion (2025)
operating income	US$3.61 billion (2025)

Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) is an American biotechnology and biomedical engineering firm and multinational manufacturer of medical devices used in interventional medical specialties, including interventional radiology, interventional cardiology, peripheral interventions, neuromodulation, neurovascular intervention, electrophysiology, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, endoscopy, oncology, urology and gynecology.

The company is known for the development of the Taxus Stent, a drug-eluting stent which is used to open clogged arteries.[2][3] The company acquired Cameron Health in June 2012 and began to offer a minimally invasive implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) called the EMBLEM subcutaneous implantable defibrillator (S-ICD).[4][5]

net income	US$2.90 billion (2025)

assets	US$43.7 billion (2025)

equity	US$24.2 billion (2025)

num employees	59,000

num employees year	2025

foundation	June 29, 1979 in Watertown, Massachusetts

website	bostonscientific.com

footnotes	‡R1R‡

History

Boston Scientific was formed on June 29, 1979, in Watertown, Massachusetts, as a holding company for the medical products company Medi-Tech, Inc., and to position the company for growth in interventional medicine.[10] Medi-Tech was the brainchild of Itzhak Bentov, a Czech-born émigré to Israel and then to the United States, who worked at the Arthur D. Little think tank in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and ran a contract research company from his rented house in Belmont, Massachusetts, a venture he founded in 1965 with a business friend, Dan Singer.[10]

In 1967 Bentov was asked by Boston Beth Israel Hospital radiologists to design a steerable, remotely controlled catheter; a series of engineering designs, polymer improvements and prototypes led to the release of a new steerable angiography catheter in 1969. That year John Abele joined the small company with an option to buy. A year later he exercised his option with Cooper Labs as a business partner, and the operation was moved – out of Bentov's lab in the basement of the rectory of a Catholic church in Belmont – to Watertown.[11]

After a decade of steady growth, Abele met Pete Nicholas by chance in their neighborhood in Concord, Massachusetts. Their partnership hinged on Nicholas' goal to build business enterprises and Abele's predilection for the vision and potential in noninvasive surgical instrumentation; they gathered backers in the Boston banking community to buy out the Cooper Labs interest and form the new corporation.[10]

Less than a year later Kimray Medical Associates (later Mansfield Scientific, Inc.) was acquired, adding vena cava filters and cardiac output computers to the product line.[10] By 1982 a renovated mill building in Watertown was transformed into a manufacturing plant. Acquisitions continued, with Endo-Tech (Microvasive, Inc.: gastrointestinal and pulmonary) in 1981 and then Van-Tec (urology) in 1988, and an international presence was expanded. Mansfield Scientific, Microvasive, and Medi-Tech merged into Boston Scientific December 31, 1988.[11][12]

Initial public offering (1992)

On May 19, 1992, Boston Scientific launched an initial public offering of 23.5 million shares, of which 18.8 million were offered in the U.S. and 4.7 million were offered outside the U.S. The initial offering amounted to 23% of Boston Scientific's outstanding stock.[10]

Goldman, Sachs & Co. (lead) and PaineWebber Inc. were the underwriters and Abbott Laboratories held a 20% stake (23.5 million shares). The market capitalization was about $1.6 billion.[13] The U.S. shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[14]

Post–IPO

From 1995 through 1997, Boston Scientific increased its technology R&D and product offerings following substantial acquisitions that included Cardiovascular Imaging Systems (intravascular ultrasound), SCIMED (cardiovascular), Vesica Medical (urology), Meadox (textile vascular prostheses), EP Technologies (cardiac ablation controllers),

Litigation

Johnson & Johnson patent litigation

Beginning in 2003, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson were involved in a series of litigations involving patents covering heart stent medical devices. Both parties claimed that the other had infringed upon their patents. The litigation was settled once Boston Scientific agreed to pay $716 million to Johnson & Johnson in September 2009 and an additional $1.73 billion in February 2010.[68]

It was announced in November 2014 that Johnson & Johnson would have another chance for payback after a multibillion-dollar trial was set for November 20, 2014. A New York federal court judge would hear the case without a jury to decide whether Boston Scientific should be held liable for the contract breach.[69]

Transvaginal mesh

Boston Scientific is one of several manufacturers of a medical device called transvaginal mesh, a type of surgical mesh used to treat pelvic organ prolapse. Experts concluded that the medical company had used cheap, counterfeit resin, which was both toxic and degraded when exposed to oxygen.[70] When this was announced on 60 Minutes, Boston Scientific responded by saying the broadcast was "irresponsible and misleading,"[71] citing a 2017 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report stating that although they found variability in the polypropylene resin, "these differences do not present new safety or effectiveness concerns." One woman, who sued in 2011, was awarded $100 million. Two operations had failed to remove all the parts of the mesh and she was still in pain. The company appealed the decision and had the amount reduced to $10M.[72][71] In 2015, Boston Scientific announced it would pay $119 million to 2,970 lawsuit plaintiffs, who had been injured by the mesh.[73] On March 23, 2021, the company agreed to pay $189 million to settle allegations that it had seriously misrepresented the risks related to the vaginal mesh. As of Jan. 27, 2021, around 54,000 lawsuits related to transvaginal meshes had been filed against Boston Scientific.[74]

In April 2019, the FDA ordered Boston Scientific and Coloplast to remove all of their vaginal mesh products from the United States market. In 2020, Johnson & Johnson was required to pay $344 million for failing to disclose the serious product risks of its transvaginal mesh product.[75]

NIR stent

In 2005, Boston Scientific paid $74 million to settle allegations that it had continued to sell NIR stents (flexible stents) after learning that many of them were defective. Twenty-six injuries and one death may have been caused by malfunctioning stents.[76]

Defective defibrillators

In 2011, Guidant, a subsidiary of Boston Scientific, was criminally convicted of a failure to report defibrillator safety problems to the FDA.[77] The company was forced to pay more than $296 million in criminal fines and had to submit to the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years.

Even though Guidant knew the devices were defective, they continued to sell the defibrillators anyway.[78] Guidant LLC had also advised its sales representatives to tell physicians that nothing was wrong with the defibrillators, and told the FDA that the proposed corrections were not being done to correct life-threatening device flaws, but were rather to improve process throughout. Not until three deaths had occurred and ten months had passed did the company reveal the defects in 2005. The directives for these wrongdoings had been implemented prior to Boston Scientific's acquisition of Guidant in 2006.[79]

In 2013, BSC and three of its subsidiaries – Guidant LLC, Guidant Sales LLC, and Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. – agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations that, according to the Justice Department, between 2002 and 2005, Guidant knowingly sold defective heart devices to health care facilities that in turn implanted the devices into Medicare patients.[80]

Bribery allegations

In 2009, Boston Scientific agreed to pay $22 million to settle allegations that its subsidiary Guidant LLC had used kickback schemes to boost sales for its pacemakers (cardiac rhythm management or CRM devices) and defibrillators (implantable cardioverter-defibrillators or ICD devices). Allegedly, Guidant paid doctors between $1,000 and $1,500 each to participate in one of its four post-studies known as RaCE ($1,500), RaCE II ($1,000), RaCE III ($1,000), and MERITS ($1,000).[81]

2010–2020

In October 2010, the company was fined $600,000 by the US Department of Justice for paying a US Army doctor to use their devices and recommend them to others.[28] In the same month Boston Scientific acquired Asthmatx, Inc., for $193.5 million, with payments of up to $250 million being paid on the achievement of specified revenue-based criteria through 2019.[29]

In January 2011, Boston acquired Atritech, Inc., for $100 million plus additional potential payments of up to $275 million.[24] Atritech developed a novel device called the Watchman designed to close the left atrial appendage in patients with atrial fibrillation who are at risk for ischemic stroke. In the same month, Boston Scientific acquired Intelect Medical, Inc., for $78 million and the remaining 86% of Sadra Medical, Inc., not already owned for $193 million plus contingent payments. At the same time, the business divested its neurovascular business to Stryker Corporation for $1.5 billion.[24]

In June 2012, Boston Scientific officially acquired Cameron Health for a total sum of $1.3 billion, paid out incrementally as various revenue milestones were achieved.[30] In September, the company announced it would acquire BridgePoint Medical, Inc., developer of a catheter-based system to treat coronary chronic total occlusions. In October, the company acquired Rhythmia Medical, Inc., developer of mapping and navigation methods for use in cardiac catheter ablations and other electrophysiology procedures.[31] A month later, the business acquired catheter-based renal denervation system developer, Vessix Vascular, Inc.[32]

In November 2013, Boston announced it would acquire Bard EP, the electrophysiology business of C.R. Bard, Inc. for $275 million.[33]

In May 2014, Boston acquired hysteroscopic intrauterine tissue removal specialist, IoGyn, Inc.[34] In September, the business announced it would acquire the Interventional business of Bayer.[35]

In March 2015, the company announced it would acquire Endo International Plc's American Medical Systems urology business for at least $1.6 billion, expanding the company's health and prostate treatments.[36] In April, Boston announced its intention to acquire Xlumena, Inc. In October Boston announced it had invested further in percutaneous mitral valve replacement system developer, MValve Technologies, gaining a right to acquire the business in the future.[37]

In July 2016, the business acquired the manufacturer of radiofrequency ablation systems, Cosman Medical, Inc. In September, Boston Scientific announced it had acquired EndoChoice Holdings, Inc., becoming part of the Boston Scientific Endoscopy business for $210 million. In November, the company acquired the gynecology and urology portfolio of Distal Access, LLC, a company that designs minimally invasive medical devices. In December 2016, the business acquired a 15% stake in Neovasc, Inc., for $75 million.[38]

In 2016, Boston Scientific acquired EndoChoice, located in Alpharetta, Georgia.[39]

In May 2017, the company acquired Symetis SA, a developer of minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve implantation devices.[40] In October, Boston acquired Apama Medical Inc. for up to $300 million.[41]

In April 2018, Boston Scientific announced the triple closure of its acquisitions of women's health company, nVision Medical Corporation, NxThera and Securus Medical Group, Inc., for up to $50 million.[42] In July, Boston Scientific announced it would acquire Cryterion Medical, Inc, Veniti, Inc., in August Augmenix, Inc., and Claret Medical, Inc.[43] In November, Boston Scientific announced it would acquire UK medical device maker BTG plc for $4.2 billion.[44] In late December, the company announced it would acquire Millipede, Inc for $325 million, after previously investing $90 million in the company.[45] In May 2019, the company announced it would acquire Vertiflex, Inc., with the aim of increasing its interventional pain therapy offerings. Vertiflex principally developed treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis.[46]

Boston Scientific

History

Initial public offering (1992)

Post–IPO

Organizational culture

Litigation

Johnson & Johnson patent litigation

Transvaginal mesh

NIR stent

Defective defibrillators

Bribery allegations

Obsidio Embolic recall

Notable people

Headquarters and regional centers

External links

References

Guidant merger

Post-merger

2010–2020

2021–present