NEW YORK (AP) — Boston Scientific Corp. will pay Johnson & Johnson $716.3 million to settle 14 patent infringement lawsuits related to the use of stents in treating heart disease. Boston Scientific, of Natick, Mass., will pay Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary Cordis Corp. on Thursday, using cash from a legal reserve. New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson will record most of the payment as a special item in the fourth quarter. Stents are mesh metal tubes used to prop open arteries after the vessels have been cleared of fatty plaque. Some of the lawsuits being settled are related to Boston Scientific’s NIR stent delivery system. The companies agreed to dismiss lawsuits in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere that relate to the use of stents in diagnosing and treating heart disease, as well as the design of drug coated stents, balloon catheters, stent delivery systems and balloon materials. Other lawsuits between the companies remain active. Those include a suit from Cordis related to Boston Scientific’s Express, Taxus, Taxus Liberte, and Promus stents, and another case related to the NIR system. Boston Scientific is suing Johnson & Johnson for violating a patent on its Cypher drug coated stent.
