Boston Scientific Needs to Win Doctors' Hearts

If you're a practicing cardiologist, expect a call -- probably several -- from sell-side analysts or money managers in the next few days, inquiring about your confidence in Boston Scientific's (BSX Quote) Taxus drug-coated stent.

The opinions of these heart doctors and whether they'll stick with Taxus or favor the rival Cypher stent from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ Quote) remain the important unanswered questions after Friday's announcement from Boston Scientific that it's recalling 85,000 Taxus stent units and another 11,000 Express (uncoated) stents because of a manufacturing defect.

Boston Scientific is being forced to pull the stents from hospital shelves because of a problem with the catheter delivery system that doctors use to insert the stent in a patient's artery. It's the same problem that forced Boston Scientific to recall 200 Taxus stents on July 5. At that time, Boston Scientific executives said there wouldn't be additional recalls. ...