Boston Scientific Corporation

What does Boston Scientific make?
Interventional medical devices: coronary stents, catheters, pacemakers and defibrillators, the WATCHMAN appendage closure device, FARAPULSE ablation systems, endoscopy tools, urology implants, and neuromodulation stimulators.

Is Boston Scientific publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on the NYSE under ticker BSX and is a member of the S&P 500.

Who founded Boston Scientific?
John Abele and Pete Nicholas founded the company in 1979 in Watertown, Massachusetts as Medi-Tech. Mike Mahoney has served as CEO since 2011 and also chairs the board.

Why did Boston Scientific cut guidance in 2026?
US sales of WATCHMAN declined 7% amid a left atrial appendage closure market slowdown, electrophysiology faced tougher competition, China procurement cut prices, and a cyber incident disrupted manufacturing, together forcing three guidance reductions.

What companies has Boston Scientific acquired recently?
Recent deals include Axonics (2024, ~$3.7 billion), Silk Road Medical (2024, ~$1.26 billion), Relievant (2023, ~$850 million), and Bolt Medical and Nalu Medical in 2025.

John Abele and Pete Nicholas co-founded the company in 1979 as Medi-Tech in Watertown, Massachusetts, commercializing steerable catheters. Renamed Boston Scientific, it grew through the 1980s and 1990s into a leader in angioplasty balloons and then coronary stents, riding the interventional cardiology boom that made stents one of medicine's largest device categories.

The defining crisis came in 2006 when Boston Scientific won a bidding war against Johnson & Johnson for Guidant Corporation, paying roughly $27 billion. The deal brought a pacemaker and defibrillator business but also crushing debt and a wave of Guidant product recalls that materialized immediately afterward. The company spent the better part of a decade selling assets and repairing the balance sheet.

Michael Mahoney arrived as CEO in 2011 and engineered the turnaround: refocusing on high-growth interventional niches, rebuilding the pipeline through bolt-on acquisitions, and diversifying away from stent dependence. Key deals included Atritech in 2011, which brought WATCHMAN, and Farapulse in 2021, which delivered the FARAPULSE pulsed field ablation system that became the fastest-growing product in company history.

The acquisition pace accelerated in the 2020s: BTG in 2019 for $4.2 billion added interventional medicine; Baylis Medical in 2022 added electrophysiology access tools; Relievant Medsystems in 2023 for about $850 million added chronic pain treatment; and 2024 brought Silk Road Medical for approximately $1.26 billion and Axonics for approximately $3.7 billion, the latter making Boston Scientific a leader in sacral neuromodulation. In 2025 it acquired Bolt Medical, adding intravascular lithotripsy technology, and Nalu Medical, expanding neuromodulation.

In 2026 the growth engine stuttered: US WATCHMAN sales fell 7% and electrophysiology declined amid competition and a slowdown in left atrial appendage closure procedures, compounded by a cyber incident that hit manufacturing. Third quarter sales of $5.14 billion grew only 1.5%, the slowest rate in years, and management cut annual guidance for the third time.

The company publishes an annual ESG report covering emissions, product quality, and access programs, and runs global manufacturing with formal environmental management systems. Its devices carry no consumer-brand sustainability flags; corporate posture centers on clinical evidence standards, supply chain integrity, and workforce safety across roughly 40 countries.

• Fortune 500: Ranked among the largest US companies by revenue
• Medical device innovation recognition: FARAPULSE approvals and WATCHMAN clinical milestones received broad specialist press coverage

Guidant-era recalls (2005-2007): Inherited defibrillator and pacemaker recalls after the Guidant acquisition were among the largest in device history and reshaped industry safety reporting.

Mesh litigation: Boston Scientific paid more than $1 billion across pelvic mesh settlements, resolved mostly in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

2026 cyber incident: A cybersecurity outage disrupted manufacturing in 2026, contributing to a 300-basis-point gross margin decline in Q3; operations were restored within the period.