Mike Mahoney is leaving Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to replace Ray Elliott as president and CEO of Boston Scientific Corp.
Mahoney’s Move to Boston Scientific Stirs Takeover Rumors

Elliott, the former head of Zimmer Holdings, Inc. before taking over Boston Scientific, had announced his intention to step down in May.
To accommodate post-employment obligations to J&J, Mahoney will become Boston Scientific’s president on October 17 and is expected to become CEO next year on November 1, 2012. Elliott will remain on the company’s board and assist Mahoney through the end of the year.
Unusual Transition
Larry Biegelsen, senior analyst at Wells Fargo, said what’s interesting to him about this September 14 announcement is that J&J and Boston Scientific have both agreed to this unusual transition plan. “It strikes us as a friendly agreement between two companies that have been fierce rivals over recent years and have litigated against each other extensively in the stent space. Given J&J’s recent exit from the stent business, we think this announcement could fuel additional speculation about J&J’s eventually acquiring Boston Scientific.”
Mahoney was in charge of J&J’s DePuy orthopedics business before taking over as head of J&J’s medical device and diagnostic group in January. Before joining DePuy, Mahoney was with General Electric Medical Systems. He will be in charge of Boston Scientific’s cardiac rhythm management and endoscopy businesses starting in October, and will take over the neuromodulation business next August.

Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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