Bos Scis Q2 takes hit from defib sales halt; stent sales drop too

Boston Scientific has filed financial results for its second quarter, ending June 30, which were adversely affected by the FDA's halt on defibrillator systems, along with falling stent sales.

The Natick, Mass.-based company said its net income for the second quarter of 2010 was $98 million, compared with $158 million in the second quarter 2009. The results reportedly included goodwill impairment-related credits; restructuring-related charges; and an amortization expense of $92 million, which consisted of: a $31 million credit related to the finalization of the company's goodwill impairment charge recorded in the first quarter; $29 million of restructuring and restructuring-related costs associated with the company's 2010 restructuring plan, plant network optimization program and 2007 restructuring plan; and $94 million of amortization expense.

The net sales for the second quarter of 2010 were $1.92 billion, as compared to net sales of $2.07 billion for the second quarter of 2009, a decrease of 7 percent, which Boston Scientific said was driven primarily by the cardiac rhythm management (CRM) ship hold and product removal actions in the first quarter.

For the 2010 second quarter, Boston Scientific said its worldwide CRM sales were $527 million, compared with $609 in the previous year’s second quarter. However, U.S. sales were affected by the break in defibrillator sales. On April 15, the company resumed U.S. distribution of its Cognis CRT-D and Teligen ICD systems, previously on a 30-day ship hold. Cognis and Teligen represent almost all of its U.S. defibrillator implant volume; and its remaining defibrillator systems were removed from ship hold on May 21. As a result, its 2010 second quarter defibrillator systems sales in the U.S. were $238 million, compared with $315 million in its 2009 second quarter. Conversely, its international defibrillator sales rose $2 million.

Likewise, the company said its worldwide coronary stent system net sales for this year’s second quarter dropped $62 million, compared with last year’s second quarter. Both its international and U.S. drug-eluting stent (DES) and bare-metal stent (BMS) sales all dropped. For its DES, its sales dropped $29 million in the U.S. to $209 million in the 2010 second quarter, and slipped $23 million internationally to $180 million in the 2010 second quarter. For its BMS, the sales decreased $3 million in the U.S. to $12 million, and dipped $7 million internationally to $21 million.