Boston Scientific Announces First Quarter Spe...(. No payments are expected to be due un...)

"We were gratified the appeals court upheld the finding that the BX Velocity and Cypher stents infringe our patent," said Jim Tobin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boston Scientific. "We believe this ruling has the potential to result in a significant award from J&J. More broadly, the ultimate resolution of these matters will represent a further reduction in the risk and uncertainty associated with outstanding litigation."

On March 16, the Company announced it had agreed to settle all outstanding litigation with Bruce N. Saffran, M.D., Ph.D. As a result, Boston Scientific will record a charge to earnings of $50 million ($43 million after-tax) in the first quarter. The Company does not plan to record any additional charges in relation to this settlement. Prior to this settlement, a federal court jury in Texas found that the Company's TAXUS(R) Express(R) and TAXUS(R) Liberte(R) stent products infringe Dr. Saffran's patent and awarded him damages of $431 million, plus $69 million in pre-judgment interest.

The Company also announced it will record restructuring and restructuring-related charges of $37 million ($26 million after-tax) in the first quarter associated with its previously announced plant network optimization and expense and head count reduction initiatives. These charges are in line with those included in the Company's first quarter GAAP earnings per share guidance.

Finally, the Company announced it will record a net gain of $63 million (on both a pre-tax and after-tax basis) in the first quarter related to the resolution of the rate of taxation on proceeds received by the Company in 2008 for one of its divested businesses.

The Company plans to discuss these and other issues on its first quarter earnings call on April 21 at 8:00 a.m. ET. A press r
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