A Twin Cities Business Journal article from over two years ago. I am thinking of this board as a resource for people just coming on board SRDX and I thought this article added color (colour) to the history for me. Ikotatoki offered it on the Yahoo thread-thank you.
In Sept 2001, it was announced SRDX was in talks with MDT re: stents. Yet in the conf calls of the last year or so, Olseth states they cannot reveal the names of the stent companies they are working with, but are working on getting approval to release information.
So what ever happened to the talks with Medtronic?
--- (From Twin Cities Business Journal, Sept 5, 2001)
Surmodics shares settle down
Eden Prairie-based Surmodics Inc. shares came down a bit on Tuesday from their euphoric jump of $7.57, or 16.2 percent, to $54.17 on the Nasdaq National market yesterday after investors heard good news from a major customer. The price had retreated by $2.17, or 4 percent, compared to Tuesday, down to $52 on Wednesday at the close of trading.
But the good news is that Fridley-based Medtronic Inc. is talking to Surmodics about becoming a customer.
On Tuesday, Surmodic's stock surged after New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson announced that stents using Surmodics' coating technology prevented re-clogging of arteries in people who had heart surgery.
Those patients often need new surgery to remove scar tissue that develops after stents are implanted. Stents are small tubes that keep arteries open. Tests showed that patients fitted with stents developed by Johnson & Johnson's Miami-based Cordis division don't develop scarring. Cordis uses Surmodics' Photolink technology, which deposits antibiotics on the stents through a light-activated coating technique.
Surmodics Stephen Hathaway told CityBusiness that the company doesn't have an exclusive arrangement with Johnson & Johnson, but offers to sell its technology to everyone involved in stent making. He declined to say what other companies are in discussions with Surmodics about using the technology.
Hathaway said that Surmodics expects increases in high-margin royalties when the Johnson & Johnson product hits the market.
Pam Lund, an analyst with Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard, said she wouldn't be surprised if Surmodics pulled in another stent contract by the end of the year and that it could be Medtronic, which is racing to catch up with Johnson and Johnson in the new market for coated stents. Art Collins, Medtronic CEO, said last week that his company is working with Surmodics on a coated stent. |
