Cook to appeal ruling

Bloomington-based Cook Inc. will soon turn to an appeals court after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Monday again supported Boston Scientific Co.'s assertion that a potential merger between Cook and Guidant Inc. violates a co-exclusive agreement that Boston and Cook signed in 1997 with Angiotech Pharmaceuticals.\nGuidant and Boston are in direct competition to introduce new heart-disease technology, a potential $4 billion market by 2004.\nGuidant, which produces uncoded coronary stents, wants to buy Cook's paclitaxel-coding technology. The technology prevents arteries from clogging with scar tissue after surgery.\nBoth Cook and Boston obtained their paclitaxel coding capabilities from Canada-based Angiotech.\nBoston claims the co-exclusive agreement forbids Cook from sharing information with Guidant about stent coding.\nBoston is worried about Guidant becoming a world leader in both coded and uncoded stents, said David McCarty, Cook director of public relations.\nShares of Guidant dropped 16 percent last week as investors speculated the company will not be able to keep up with its competitors in the race for coded stents. Still, Guidant and Cook remain confident a merger will eventually take place.\n"Guidant continues to be committed to advancing this important lifesaving therapy and will pursue alternative pathways to bring drug eluting stent technology to market," said Ronald W. Dollens, president and CEO, Guidant Corporation in a press release. "We will also continue to aggressively pursue the Guidant vs. Boston Scientific litigation. We believe that the proposed acquisition of Cook Group is consistent with the terms of the Angiotech license agreement and should allow commercialization of the ACHIEVE Stent System."\nBut if for some reason the merger doesn't work out, Cook will remain financially strong, McCarty said.\n"We've been growing at an extraordinarily rapid pace over the past 16 months," he said. Still, a Guidant-Cook merger is most favorable, as it would represent a boon to the local economy.\n"Any time you have a Fortune 500 company come into town, that's a good thing," McCarty said.\nIf the merger goes through, McCarty said Guidant will continue using Cook's facilities in Bloomington and after an 18-month integration process the portion of Cook that Guidant is buying will eventually be labeled as Guidant, McCarty said.\nCook appears to be in an enviable position. The company is the largest privately-held medical manufacturer in the world and in competition with multi-billion dollar corporations, McCarty said.\n"Cook will continue to be a very successful company (no matter the outcome)," he said.