Boston
Scientific
The letter is another PR black eye for the company, but it should not have a substantial impact on the stock, since the trial has long since been discontinued.
With Boston Scientific's stock price down more than 20% since the beginning of the year, this has not been the year investors had hoped for. And the company faces an even bigger dilemma: the corporate warning letter that the company received from the FDA in January 2006, relating to compliance issues at various facilities. Boston Scientific noted yesterday that it's headed in the right direction to close out this issue, but does not expect to resolve the matter until 2008.
The problem with this timing -- for the company and its shareholders -- is that competitor Medtronic
Boston Scientific now trades not far above its 52-week low. I'm not convinced that it's a bargain, though. At this point, I'm inclined to wait until its sales trends improve, and to see whether it will be able to bounce back from these FDA rebukes and push Taxus Liberte to market before Medtronic wins approval for Endeavor.