Sep. 30--Boston Scientific will pay $716 million to medical products giant Johnson & Johnson to settle more than a dozen lawsuits related to patents for heart stents.

Stents are metal mesh tubes used to prop open heart arteries, and Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific makes the products at a division based in Maple Grove.

While the settlement announced Tuesday resolves 14 lawsuits between the companies, other patent disputes continue.

"We are pleased we have been able to significantly reduce the amount of outstanding litigation we have with Johnson & Johnson," said Ray Elliott, chief executive officer of Boston Scientific, in a statement. "We continue to work with them to resolve other outstanding matters."

The settlement marks the third big-money agreement involving a Twin Cities company this year to settle disputes over stent patents.

In July, Fridley-based Medtronic Inc. announced it would pay Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories $400 million to settle a number of patent disputes related to heart stents. The parties said they would not sue one another in the field of heart stents and stent-delivery systems for at least 10 years, subject to certain conditions.

In March, Boston Scientific said it would take a $50 million pretax charge connected to a patent dispute settlement with a New Jersey physician. The doctor claimed to have developed what his lawyer called the essential concept behind the drug-coated stent -- a top product for Boston Scientific.

Barbara

Wrigley, a patent attorney with Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly in Minneapolis, said the settlement amount is large due to several factors, including the number of cases resolved. Plus, the stent market is still worth more than $1 billion.

"The area of interventional cardiology commands a definite premium in the marketplace," she said.

The settlement was announced after the close of trading Tuesday, when shares of Boston Scientific closed down 13 cents at $10.68.

Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at 651-228-5479.

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