Abbott Laboratories

Boston Scientific Corp. gained US approval for a new version of its drug-coated heart stent. The Natick-based company said it will immediately begin making and selling the Promus Element stent system. It licensed the original Promus device from Abbott Laboratories, which sells it under the name Xience. The approval "marks an important milestone" because it will allow the company to manufacture its own device rather than licensing it from a competitor, CEO Hank Kucheman said.

Massachusetts will get $19.8 million as part of a pair of multistate settlements with Illinois drug company Abbott Laboratories, which agreed to pay a total of $900 million and plead guilty to violating a federal drug law to resolve charges of illegal off-label marketing. The accords revolve around Abbott's promotion of the antiseizure medication Depakote for off-label uses over 10 years. In one, Abbott will pay the states and US government $800 million in civil damages and penalties to compensate Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health care plans to settle a suit filed under the False Claims...

Boston Scientific Corp. has won US approval for a new version of its drug-coated heart stent. The Natick company said it will immediately begin making and selling the Promus Element system. The company licensed the original Promus device from Abbott Laboratories. The news is important because it allows the company to manufacture its own device rather than licensing it from a competitor, Boston Scientific said. US sales of Boston Scientific stents, used to prop open clogged arteries, have fallen.

NEW YORK - George B. Rathmann, who was the first chief executive of Amgen and helped build it into the world's largest biotechnology company, died Sunday at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 84. In confirming the death, his son James said Mr. Rathmann had suffered from kidney failure for several years. Mr. Rathmann is widely considered one of the fathers of the biotechnology industry. There was only a handful of companies involved in genetic engineering in 1980, when Mr. Rathmann was recruited from Abbott Laboratories to run Amgen, which was little more than a vague...

MINNEAPOLIS - A complication that causes drug-coated heart stents to weaken and shrink will be reviewed at a medical meeting next week, potentially affecting sales in the $4 billion market for the devices, which are sold by Boston Scientific Corp., Medtronic Inc., and Abbott Laboratories. The stent flaw, known as longitudinal compression, was added to the agenda at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting that starts next week in San Francisco, said Gregg Stone, director of cardiovascular research at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

Massachusetts will get $19.8 million as part of a pair of multistate settlements with Illinois drug company Abbott Laboratories, which agreed to pay a total of $900 million and plead guilty to violating a federal drug law to resolve charges of illegal off-label marketing. The accords revolve around Abbott's promotion of the antiseizure medication Depakote for off-label uses over 10 years. In one, Abbott will pay the states and US government $800 million in civil damages and penalties to compensate Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal health care plans to settle a suit filed under the...

WASHINGTON - Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle allegations it tried to block a generic version of a popular cholesterol drug. The agreement was announced yesterday by attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia, who sued Abbott to recover costs to state Medicaid plans. They alleged Abbott and the Belgian drug maker Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which Abbott is acquiring, made minor changes to TriCor to head off cheaper generic versions. “These companies deprived taxpayers, state agencies, and consumers of a fair marketplace that would have lowered...

NATICK - Boston Scientific said it has received European marketing approval for its latest drug-coated stent technology. The company will begin marketing its Promus Element stent in the European Union immediately. The device replaces the older Promus stent, which is Boston Scientific’s version of Abbott Laboratories’ Xience stent. Boston Scientific pays a 40 percent royalty to Abbott on all sales of the stents. All revenue from the new stent will go directly to Boston Scientific.

NEW YORK - George B. Rathmann, who was the first chief executive of Amgen and helped build it into the world's largest biotechnology company, died Sunday at his home in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 84. In confirming the death, his son James said Mr. Rathmann had suffered from kidney failure for several years. Mr. Rathmann is widely considered one of the fathers of the biotechnology industry. There was only a handful of companies involved in genetic engineering in 1980, when Mr. Rathmann was recruited from Abbott Laboratories to run Amgen, which was little...

WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation has found that Medicare spent millions of dollars for stents implanted by a Maryland doctor who is accused of putting them in patients who didn’t need them. The investigation also found the doctor was treated to an elaborate crab feast and barbecue by Abbott Laboratories, the maker of the stents — tiny, metal-mesh tubes used to keep unclogged arteries open. A report released by the Senate Finance Committee said Dr. Mark Midei’s questionable implantations cost the Medicare program $3.8 million between 2007 and 2009.

Medical device and drugmaker Abbott Laboratories said Wednesday it will lay off 700 employees as part of ongoing restructuring efforts. A company spokeswoman said most of the layoffs will affect employees who manufacture the company's heart stents and diagnostic tests. Abbott has seen a decline in orders for artery-opening stents, ahead of the expiration of a supply agreement with medical device rival Boston Scientific Corp. Abbott currently sells a version of its Xience stent to Boston Scientific, which pays a 40 percent royalty on sales.

Boston Scientific Corp. gained US approval for a new version of its drug-coated heart stent. The Natick-based company said it will immediately begin making and selling the Promus Element stent system. It licensed the original Promus device from Abbott Laboratories, which sells it under the name Xience. The approval "marks an important milestone" because it will allow the company to manufacture its own device rather than licensing it from a competitor, CEO Hank Kucheman said.

Boston Scientific Corp. has won US approval for a new version of its drug-coated heart stent. The Natick company said it will immediately begin making and selling the Promus Element system. The company licensed the original Promus device from Abbott Laboratories. The news is important because it allows the company to manufacture its own device rather than licensing it from a competitor, Boston Scientific said. US sales of Boston Scientific stents, used to prop open clogged arteries, have fallen.

MINNEAPOLIS - A complication that causes drug-coated heart stents to weaken and shrink will be reviewed at a medical meeting next week, potentially affecting sales in the $4 billion market for the devices, which are sold by Boston Scientific Corp., Medtronic Inc., and Abbott Laboratories. The stent flaw, known as longitudinal compression, was added to the agenda at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting that starts next week in San Francisco, said Gregg Stone, director of cardiovascular research at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

Biogen Idec Inc. and Abbott Laboratories said Tuesday that multiple sclerosis drug candidate daclizumab worked better than a placebo at preventing a relapse of symptoms during a mid-stage clinical trial. The study involved 600 patients who received a low dose of daclizumab, a larger dose, or a placebo. They were treated once every four weeks for a year. The companies said that after a year of treatment, the rate of relapse in patients who were treated with the low dose was 54 percent lower than the relapse rate in the placebo patients.

Abbott Laboratories said yesterday it would eliminate 1,900 employees to keep profits up, indicating that one of the pharmaceutical industry’s few success stories of recent years is not immune to cost pressures squeezing the sector. The maker of drugs and devices said the terminations involve US marketing and manufacturing positions. The cuts, which represent about 2 percent of the company’s workforce, are expected to save the company $200 annually million in coming years. Abbott blamed the cuts on new fees and pricing pressures associated with the health reform law and a “challenging...