Key Players
The name of the President of Guidant's Vascular Intervention Group, the main decision-maker in the case.
Who is Ginger Howard?
The general term for the severe re-narrowing of an artery after a procedure like angioplasty.
What is restenosis?
The main classification of products Guidant's VI Group sold, meaning they are thrown away after one use.
What are disposable medical devices?
The general name for the new type of therapy using isotopes, usually associated with cancer treatment.
What is radiation therapy?
The rival company that dominated the stent market with the Palmaz-Schatz stent.
What is Johnson & Johnson (J&J)?
The small, wire-mesh implant used to prop open an artery and reduce restenosis.
What is a stent?
The specific Guidant product whose price was dropping due to increased competition, creating pressure for a new growth strategy.
What is the balloon catheter?
One of the two main ways the radiation could be delivered inside the artery, using a machine to feed a glowing tip through a catheter.
What is a source wire (or radioactive wire)?
The large pharmaceutical company that spun out Guidant as an independent company.
What is Eli Lilly?
The procedure that uses a small balloon to open a blocked coronary artery.
What is balloon angioplasty?
The specific type of equipment that Guidant was worried about having to sell and service, as it was outside their expertise. (Ex: The Afterloader)
What is capital equipment?
The biggest scientific unknown about the radiation therapy in 1996, beyond its short-term effectiveness.
What are long-term complications (or long-term safety)?