St Jude Medical is combining its Cardiac Surgery and Cardiology divisions to create a new Cardiovascular Division, effective 1st January 2007. The Cardiovascular Division will focus on developing and bringing to market medical device technology and services to help patients who suffer from vascular disease or structural heart defects. The Cardiovascular Division will incorporate the activities currently managed by the Cardiac Surgery Division and by the Cardiology Division. The company will continue to have specialised cardiac surgery and cardiology sales forces.
According to Daniel J Starks, chairman, president and CEO of St Jude Medical, the company's cardiology and cardiac surgery businesses will be stronger together than each business is separately. Moreover, he claimed that by streamlining the organisation, the company can boost operating efficiencies and ultimately use the associated savings to invest in research and development.
The new Cardiovascular Division will be led by George J Fazio, who has served as president of St Jude Medical's Cardiac Surgery Division since 2004. Prior to his current role, Fazio was appointed president of St Jude Medical Europe in 2001. His preceding roles included president, Health Care Services for St Jude Medical, and general manager for St Jude Medical's operations in Canada.
Paul R Buckman, currently president of St Jude Medical's Cardiology Division, will become corporate vice president of Business Development. Since joining St Jude Medical in 2004 in his current role, Buckman has overseen a significant expansion of the Cardiology Division's products and programmes. The company is also initiating several changes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its sales and customer service operations in certain international geographies.
As a result of these restructuring plans, St Jude Medical expects to incur a pre-tax charge of US$25 million to US$35 million during the third quarter of 2006. "The creation of a new Cardiovascular Division, together with the expansion of our sales force and recent new product introductions, are part of our comprehensive program to position St Jude Medical to deliver a minimum 15% growth in 2007 and beyond," Starks concluded.
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