May 3, 2007 — According to a Dow Jones News Service article published by Star Tribune, Minneapolis St. Paul, Boston Scientific Corp. is reviewing its portfolio and will consider selling parts that aren't considered strategic, long-term contributors — so stated the company's chief operating officer Wednesday.
Working to regain footing in its core cardiology markets, Boston Scientific is a corporate-wide efficiency improvement program, said Paul LaViolette, Boston Scientific's chief operating officer. He estimated that savings would be in the "hundreds of millions of dollars" range.
"Anything we do would be to improve operating effectiveness," LaViolette said during a Morgan Stanley health care conference that was broadcast on the Internet, the Dow article reported.
The company’s cardiac rhythm management division is based in Arden Hills, MN, and its cardiovascular division facilities are located in Maple Grove and Plymouth.
LaViolette said Boston Scientific is a company that has grown extremely rapidly and has "yet to really grow into our suit." He also stressed that the company doesn't want to respond to short-term market issues with cost-cutting moves that could have lasting and damaging long-term effects, the Dow News Service reported.
For example, while the market for implantable defibrillators, or ICDs, isn't growing as fast as Boston Scientific expected when it spent $27 billion on Guidant Corp. and its ICD business last year, Boston Scientific doesn't want to undo the supporting infrastructure.
"We think there's organic, double-digit growth in ICDs over time," LaViolette said.