ZIMMERMAN REED ANNOUNCES: COURT CERTIFIES CLASS ACTION IN
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC SECURITIES LAWSUIT
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – March 10, 2009 – Zimmerman Reed today announced that shareholder claims
against Boston Scientific Company (NYSE: BSX) will be allowed to proceed as a class action. On March
10, 2009 Judge Douglas Woodlock, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, issued
a memorandum certifying a shareholder class of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired
Boston Scientific equity securities between November 20, 2003 and July 15, 2004 (the “Class Period”).
At the core of the lawsuit are allegations concerning known manufacturing defects with Boston
Scientific’s flagship stent product, TAXUS drug-eluting stent. In their lawsuit, the investors allege that
Boston Scientific violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by knowingly withholding material
information and making misleading statements concerning TAXUS, which artificially inflated the
Company's stock and ultimately caused investor losses. In addition, the investors allege that the
Company’s top executives engaged in improper insider trading and wrongfully enriched themselves in
excess of $332 million by selling their personal holdings.
The case involves allegations that in 2003 and 2004, medical device-manufacturer Boston Scientific
misled investors about its TAXUS device. First, Defendants attributed problems—including patient
deaths—with its drug-eluting TAXUS stent and Express2 bare metal coronary stent systems to physician
error, despite the fact that the Company had previously determined that the problems were attributable
to its internal manufacturing processes. Additionally, Plaintiffs allege that, despite knowing the
serious risks associated with the manufacturing problems, the Company chose to delay implementing
manufacturing changes until after it launched the flawed device onto the U.S. market, to avoid further
FDA scrutiny of the Company’s application to put TAXUS on the United States market. The problems
caught up with the Company when it was forced to recall TAXUS from the U.S. and international
markets three times in the summer of 2004. In reaction, the share price dropped 14.3% in the following
three trading days.
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