St. Jude Medical Resurrects Former Guidant Plant to Produce Pacemakers in Puerto Rico

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- St. Jude Medical Incorporated (NYSE:STJ) (St. Paul, Minnesota) has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin producing pacemakers and cardiac leads at a new plant in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Operating under the company's St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico B.V. division, the site was purchased in 2007 from Guidant, following that company's purchase by Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) (Natick, Massachusetts).

Having successfully completed the six-month FDA approval process, the 150,000-square-foot facility, which is in Arecibo's Santana Industrial Park, initially will produce St. Jude Medical pacemakers and cardiac leads for both domestic and international markets. Later this year the company plans to add production of its implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

By the time the entire series of improvements and upgrades are completed in the next three years, St. Jude will have invested more than $200 million into the site, which will eventually employ more than 1,200. The expansion in Puerto Rico coincides with another capital project currently under way in St. Paul, where the company is spending $30 million to add a new development laboratory on track for completion early next year. Dating back to 1997, the company has operated another plant on the island at Caguas, which will continue to manufacture mechanical heart valves and vascular closure devices after the production of pacemakers and cardiac leads is switched to Arecibo.

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