Johnson & Johnson has begun a restructuring initiative, which will eliminate positions in the range of 6 to 7 percent of its global workforce of 120,000 in an effort to cut costs through 2011.

Spectranetics experienced severe net losses for its fiscal third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

Eli Lilly managed to overcome net losses in the third quarter of 2008 to swing into strong earnings for this years third quarter, due to solid sales.

The gender difference between men and women is a lot smaller than previously believed when it comes to heart attack symptoms, according to a study presented this week at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society in Edmonton, Alberta.

Edwards Lifesciences has reported net income for the 2009 third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, of $73.5 million, compared with net income of $32.9 million for the same period in 2008.

Johnson & Johnson, parent company of the stentmaker Cordis, has reported a slightly higher net income, despite a decrease in sales in the third quarter of 2009, which ended Sept. 30.

Abbott has increased its net sales and net earnings for the third quarter of 2009, which ended Sept. 30, bolstered by strong vascular sales in both the international and U.S. markets.

Since the FDA approved the Taxus Liberte Atom 2.25 mm paclitaxel-eluting stent in May, Boston Scientific has gained about 8 percent of the market, according to Jeff Mirvis, vice president of marketing. The company highlighted the Taxus Liberte family of stents, as well as next-generation stents, at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.