Guidant faces new lawsuits

9 November 2005

New York, NY, USA. US law firm Stull, Stull & Brody has announced that it has launched a class action lawsuit against Guidant Corp. and certain individual defendants.

The complaint alleges that Guidant and certain of its officers and directors violated provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, causing the Company's stock price to become artificially inflated.  According to the complaint, while the Company pointed to its defibrillator business as a key component of the December 2004 merger deal with Johnson & Johnson (worth $25.4bn), it "concealed from investors significant unaddressed product defect and liability issues of the Company's implantable defibrillator product lines". See the full press release.

Another law firm, Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP, has also launched a class action lawsuit against the company, again citing violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. See the full press release.

In addition, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a formal inquiry into some of Guidant's product disclosures and trading in Guidant stock.

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