Johnson & Johnson exiting $4 billion drug-coated stent business - nearly 1,000 jobs to go

via nj.com

Cypher, which was the first drug-coated stent to reach the market, was projected to make $3 billion in its first year of sales. But early on, the device experienced some setbacks that caused sales to go into a constant, disappointing slide. While Cypher’s annual sales once reached $2.6 billion, analysts put more recent annual sales at $600 million.
Ultimately, Johnson & Johnson's inability to hold onto a bigger piece of the market and keen competition from rivals like Boston Scientific led to the company's decision to leave the business, according to Wall Street analysts.
The decision to move out of the stent business will also result in Johnson & Johnson closing manufacturing plants in Puerto Rico and Ireland and cutting nearly 1,000 jobs.
"The reality is, in some ways, stents have become a bit of a commodity,’’ said Les Funtleyder, a pharmaceutical analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. "The result is that pricing has become compressed in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe.’’

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