Since its 1994 spin off, Guidant has built itself into one of the leading cardiovascular device companies through a deft technology innovation. But a series of recent missteps, most visibly in its AAA graft business but most importantly in its drug-eluting stent business, has caused this former start-up to grow up quickly. But Guidant officials counter that the AAA problems will quickly be put behind and that the drug-eluting stent program will emerge a winner, every bit as strong as its traditional bare metal stent business and its currently robust cardiac rhythm management business.

In a recent series of deals, Guidant looked both to make-up lost ground in the drug-eluting stent race and leap-frog ahead to the next-next big thing in stents by creating a separate business unit dedicated to developing a bioabsorbable stent.