Johnson and Johnson announces stent distribution agreement

Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company, has announced the signing of a definitive global distribution agreement with privately-owned Israeli firm Medinol to be its exclusive supplier of bare metal stents.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cordis will supply the latest cobalt chromium and stainless steel bare metal stents manufactured by Cordis, with the companies collaborating to ensure the receipt of market approval from regulatory bodies worldwide.

The company forecasts that it will be granted its first marketing approval for the bare metal stent products from Medinol at some time during the second half of 2007, reporting that it is “pleased” to provide doctors with an increased range of products appropriate for interventional medical procedures.

Kobi Richter, chairman and chief technology officer at Medinol, said: “With our broad product portfolio, physicians can choose the stent that best meets the needs of each individual patient.”

He added that the firm was “excited” about the chance to distribute its existing technology and that currently being developed through Cordis to physicians working in interventional cardiology.

In February 2007, Johnson & Johnson reported that the long-term safety of its sirolimus-eluting coronary stent sold through its Cordis subsidiary had been confirmed in a number of New England Journal of Medicine articles.