Court Allows Class Action Against Boston Scientific

BOSTON (CN) - The 1st Circuit reversed dismissal of a class action accusing Boston Scientific officials of netting more than $332 million by trading on inside knowledge that the value of the company's stock had been artificially inflated through false statements about the company's Taxus coronary stent.

The appellate court did not rule on the merits of the case, but found that lead plaintiff Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi met the pleading requirements needed to survive a motion to dismiss.

Doctors inserted the drug-coated Taxus stent, used primarily to prevent the growth of cancer cells, in a patient by placing a catheter within a coronary artery plaque and expanding the stent by blowing up a balloon. The Federal Drug Administration recalled more than 80,000 of the medical devices after studies showed that a manufacturing defect caused the balloon to deflate.

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