Boston Scientific

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Boston Scientific Corporation

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN US1011371077
founding 1979
Seat Marlborough , Massachusetts , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management Michael F. Mahoney ( CEO )
Number of employees 36,000
sales 10,735,000,000 USD
Branch Medical technology
Website www.bostonscientific.com
As of December 31, 2019

The Boston Scientific Corporation is a US medical device manufacturer. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and listed on the S&P 500 , with headquarters in Marlborough , Massachusetts .

history

Boston Scientific was founded on June 29, 1979 by John Abele and Peter Nicholas . Abele was previously involved in the medical technology company Medi-Tech , which Itzhak Bentov founded in 1969 , and needed an investor for further development. Medi-Tech had already done significant pioneering work in the field of interventional medicine and in 1978 presented a peripheral angioplasty balloon made of polyethylene. Medi-Tech became a subsidiary of the Boston Scientific holding company in 1979.

The company acquired long-standing competitor Guidant in 2006 for around $ 28 billion. The former Guidant company was split between Boston Scientific and Abbott Laboratories .

Products

According to its own information, the company offers solutions for the following medical specialties:

Overview of offered products (status: 2019)
Subject area Products
Electrophysiology Cardiac pacemakers , ICDs (transvenous, subcutaneous ), stimulators for cardiac resynchronization therapy , electrodes , mapping systems, catheters ( e.g. for ablation , diagnostics and mapping)
Gastroenterology Gastrointestinal stents, catheters (dilatation- assisted stone extraction with balloon, high-frequency ablation ), clips, systems for direct visualization in cholangio - pancreascopy , enteral access and gastric tubes , guide wires , tools for infection prevention , cannulas , medical forceps and snares
Vascular surgery Atherectomy systems , thrombectomy systems , endo- / vascular stents, systems for the treatment of chronic occlusions of coronary vessels (CTO), catheters (balloons), guide wires
gynecology Polypectomy tools
Interventional cardiology Uncoated and drug-coated stents ( coronary , peripheral), catheters (guidance, imaging, fractional flow reserve ), balloons, guide wires , guidance systems for PTCA , heart valve systems
Interventional Radiology Atherectomy systems, thrombectomy systems, stents, balloons, systems for the treatment of chronic occlusions of coronary vessels (CTO); Catheters (balloon, drainage , controllable microcircuits), renal denervation systems
Medicine for the female pelvis (Female Pelvic Medicine) Urethral loop systems , soft tissue grafts
Neurological surgery Systems and accessories for deep brain and spinal cord stimulation
Orthopedic surgery Systems and accessories for spinal cord stimulation
Pulmonology Systems for bronchial thermoplastic, tracheobronchial stents, transbronchial aspiration needles , balloons, endoscopic forceps and basket systems, cytology brushes
Pain medicine Systems and accessories for spinal cord stimulation
Structural Heart Diseases Intravascular ultrasound , atrial appendage closure systems
urology Dilators , insertion aids, stents, stone removal systems (antiretropulsion systems), artificial sphincters , catheters ( e.g. for percutaneous nephrostomy ), guide wires, combined ultrasound / pneumatic lithotripter , lasers , penile prostheses

According to company information are currently. Manufactured and sold a total of products in over 60 product categories, including spending approximately $ 1 billion on research and development in 2019, resulting in 87 new products for the company in the market in the same year.

Boston Scientific has Abbott Laboratories , Medtronic and Cook Medical among its major global competitors. From 2016 to 2019, Boston Scientific was named one of the Top 100 Global Innovators four times in a row for delivering medical technology that benefits patients with otherwise untreatable conditions and reduces healthcare costs . The aim of this list is to recognize the world's leading organizations that enrich the world with innovation.

In 2018, The Galien Foundation , a non-profit organization named after the doctor and anatomist Galenos that recognizes outstanding scientific innovations that improve the state of human health, presented the PrixGalien Award in the Best Medical Technology category to Boston Scientific. The award is issued for the development of a minimally invasive Vorhofohr- closure procedure using Schirmchen (so-called. Occluder), which in patients with atrial fibrillation can be used and their Schlaganfallrisikio lowers. In 2019, the company received from the nonprofit organization Edison Universe awarded Edison Awards for a ureteroscope (Silver Award) and for a gastrointestinal stent system, including an enhanced placement system with electrocautery (Bronze Award).

Patent litigation

In spring 2013, due to rulings against Boston Scientific for patent infringement by the US medical device manufacturer Orbus Neich Medical Incorporation, the worldwide sales of some stent products were briefly interrupted until June 2013. In 2017, the majority of Edwards Lifesciences in Germany was defeated in one Dispute with Boston Scientific over multiple heart valve technology lawsuits and related patents by both parties. In 2018, the European Patent Office withdrew a patent from Edwards Lifesciences u. a. Back at Boston Scientific's request and US courts found that Edwards products infringed Boston Scientific patents. The decisions made in the previous year were again confirmed by German courts in the course of the year. In 2019, the dispute was settled out of court for a payment of $ 180 million from Edwards Lifesciences to Boston Scientific.

Corporate culture

The company is rated very positively by its own employees. In the 2019 Best Places to Work - Employee's Choice survey , which is carried out by the Glassdoor website and where former or current employees of a company can submit reviews about the employer, Boston Scientific came 43rd out of 100 listed companies with an average rating out of 4.3 out of 5 stars.

social commitment

Boston Scientific has the self-declared claim of an integrative corporate culture and actively strives to increase diversity at the level of supervisors and managers in order to further improve it. To this end, the company set the following goals in 2018:

  • Leadership by being among the top 10 companies in engaging workers in: women , people of color , people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community.
  • Increase in the proportion of people of color with supervisory or managerial functions to 20% in the USA including Puerto Rico (as of end of 2019: 20.8%, +1.2% compared to 2018).
  • Increase in the proportion of women with supervisory or managerial functions to 40% worldwide (as of the end of 2019: 38.1%, -0.3% compared to 2018).

In 2019, business magazine Forbes listed the company in its America's Best Large Employers (26th out of 500) and Best Employers For Diversity lists , the latter particularly for efforts to foster a corporate culture that welcomes and supports all employees (85th out of 500) .

Similarly, American information services, news and media company Bloomberg recognized Boston Scientific for its inclusion in Bloomberg's Gender-Equality Index 2019, which includes companies that publicly demonstrate their commitment to equality and the advancement of women in the workplace. The index lists a total of 230 companies from ten economic sectors and 36 countries and regions.

Boston Scientific has reported that 47% of its employees are women, 38% of management positions and 23% of corporate management positions are held by women (data for the US workforce). The company has already been named twice in the list of the 100 best companies for working mothers by US magazine Working Mother , the most recent being in 2018. For members of the LGBTQ, the Human Rights Campaign Boston Scientific is one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality in its 2019 edition of the list of the same name.

Environmental commitment

In the United States, Newsweek magazine ranks the company 16 out of 500 in its 2017 Green Ranking , which assesses the environmental protection efforts of the world's largest publicly traded companies. According to the company's own information, around 370,000 m 2 of its properties worldwide will be certified as generally climate-neutral in 2020 , including those that specifically meet the requirements of ISO 50001 in Costa Rica and Ireland . In Ireland, in particular, where the company operates several production facilities, it is one of the signatories of the local Low Carbon Pledge : The signatories of the agreement undertake to reduce the intensity of emissions by 50% by the year 2030, which come directly from sources that come directly from themselves owned or controlled by the company (for example, fuel in boilers or vehicles owned by the company) or generated by purchased electricity that is consumed by the company.

In April 2020, the company announced that it had signed a new agreement for the purchase of 42 megawatts (MW) of solar power . This amount corresponds to around 120,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity per year. This amount of energy could supply around 18,000 private households in the same period. This initiative is intended to support the self-imposed goals of global carbon-neutral manufacturing and also the distribution of the products by the year 2030. In addition, according to the company, a portion of an energy portfolio totaling 12.9 MW has been underwritten in the home state of Massachusetts to increase demand for renewable energy and improve access to local, clean power across the state.

Initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred in winter 2020 , the company started the following initiatives or made substantial contributions to them.

Coventor as an alternative to traditional ventilators

A collaboration has been initiated with the University of Minnesota Bakken Medical Device Center and other companies to bring an alternative ventilator to market that works as a one-armed robot and replaces the need for manual ventilation in emergency situations. The device called Coventor was developed in a very short time and approved by the US health authority FDA just 30 days after conception . The mechanical ventilator is easy to use for trained medical professionals in intensive care units . It is compact in construction and relatively inexpensive to manufacture and sell. The costs are only about 4% of a normal ventilator. In addition, this device does not require any pressurized oxygen or air supply as is normally the case. A first series is produced by Boston Scientific. The plans are to be freely available to the general public online without license fees.

Complement existing supply chain capacities

According to the company, a partnership was established with a global manufacturer of commercial respirators to source and manufacture product components, expanding its supply chain capacity to enable increased production of portable respirators.

Protective clothing

In the field of protective clothing for people who meet with infected patients, face shields were manufactured at three US production sites in collaboration with the non-profit GetUsPPE.org and the plastic packaging company Prent Corporation, according to the company .

Under the leadership of Stanford University , an international coalition of medical experts, clinicians and leading representatives from the industry, the Pneumask face protection was significantly developed and delivered by Boston Scientific in a very short time . The device combines a snorkel mask for the whole face with a specially shaped adapter that the wearer can attach to a medically high quality air filter.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Executive Committee
  2. ↑ a b c d e Boston Scientific Corporation: 2019 Annual Report. 2020, accessed April 18, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Press Releases: Boston Scientific Completes Combination with Guidant. Boston Scientific Corp., April 21, 2006, accessed May 5, 2014 .
  4. ^ Boston Scientific Corporation: All Medical Specialties. 2019, accessed April 10, 2019 .
  5. ^ Boston Scientific Corporation: All Product Categories. 2019, accessed April 10, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Boston Scientific: Twitter message on R&D issues 2019. Retrieved on February 20, 2020 .
  7. ^ Boston Scientific Corporation: 2018 Annual Report. 2019, accessed April 10, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2019-20: Boston Scientific. Clarivate Analytics, 2020, accessed February 20, 2020 .
  9. ↑ The results are in: Announcing this year's Top 100 Global Innovators. Clarivate Analytics, 2019, accessed April 15, 2019 .
  10. ^ About the Galien Foundation. The Galien Foundation, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  11. ↑ The Galien Foundation Announces 2018 PrixGalien Award Recipients. PR Newswire Association LLC., October 26, 2018, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  12. ↑ WATCHMAN atrial appendage closure system. Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  13. ↑ 2019 Edison Best New Product Awards Winners. Edison Universe, 2019, accessed April 15, 2019 .
  14. ^ Peter Reinhardt: Patent infringement: Orbus Neich has stent systems from Boston Scientific confiscated. devicemed.de, May 21, 2013, accessed May 5, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Brunswick Group: OrbusNeich obtained an injunction against Boston Scientific in Germany as part of a patent infringement suit. news aktuell GmbH, April 30, 2013, accessed on May 5, 2014 .
  16. ↑ JUVE Verlag für juristische Information GmbH: Heart valve patents: Boston Scientific prevails with Peterrein's Schley for the time being. March 15, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  17. ^ Boston Scientific Corporation: Boston Scientific Prevails In European Patent Dispute With Edwards Lifesciences. April 16, 2018, accessed April 11, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Cardiovascular News: US District Court for the District of Delaware rules that Sapien 3 infringes a Boston Scientific patent. December 16, 2018, accessed April 11, 2019 .
  19. ^ Boston Scientific Corporation: Boston Scientific asserts itself against Edwards Lifesciences in a German court. October 23, 2018, accessed April 11, 2019 .
  20. ^ JUVE Verlag für juristische Information GmbH: Boston Scientific and Edwards Lifesciences settle heart valve dispute. January 18, 2019, accessed April 11, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Maria Rachal: Edwards Lifesciences pays Boston Scientific $ 180M to settle multiple patent disputes. Medtech Dive, January 15, 2019, accessed April 11, 2019 .
  22. ↑ 2019 Best Places to Work - Employee's Choice. Glassdoor, Inc., accessed April 16, 2019 .
  23. ↑ a b Diversity & Inclusion. Boston Scientific Corporation, accessed April 17, 2019 .
  24. ^ Vicky Valet: America's Best Large Employers. Forbes Media LLC., April 17, 2019, accessed April 24, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Vicky Valet: The Best Employers For Diversity 2019. Forbes Media LLC., January 15, 2019, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  26. ^ About the index. Bloomberg LP, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  27. ↑ a b 2018 Working Mother 100 Best Companies. Working Mother, a Bonnier Corporation Company., Accessed April 16, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Best Places to Work 2019. The Human Rights Campaign, accessed April 17, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Green Rankings 2017 - US 500th Newsweek, accessed on April 17, 2019 .
  30. ^ A b New Renewable Energy Agreements To Reduce Boston Scientific Carbon Footprint By Half. Boston Scientific, accessed April 22, 2020 .
  31. ↑ Locations Europe. Boston Scientific Corporation, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  32. ^ The Low Carbon Pledge. Business in the Community Ireland, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Joe Carlson: FDA approves production of device designed at University of Minnesota to help COVID-19 patients breathe. In: https://www.startribune.com/ . Star Tribune, April 16, 2020, accessed April 16, 2020 .
  34. ↑ Darrell Etherington: FDA authorizes production of a new ventilator that costs up to 25x less than existing devices. In: https://techcrunch.com/ . Verizon Media, April 16, 2020, accessed April 16, 2020 .
  35. ^ A b Boston Scientific Corporation: Boston Scientific Provides Update on COVID-19 Impact and Response Efforts. In: https://www.bostonscientific.com/ . Boston Scientific Corporation, April 2, 2020, accessed April 2, 2020 .
  36. ↑ The Pneumask Project. Prakash Lab at Stanford University Department of Bioengineering, accessed May 6, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Laurel Kroo, Anesta Kothari, Melanie Hannebelle et al .: Pneumask: Modified Full-Face Snorkel Masks as Reusable Personal Protective Equipment for Hospital Personnel (Pre-print) . Ed .: medRxiv. April 29, 2020, doi : 10.1101 / 2020.04.24.20078907 .