Advanced Interventional Laying Off 30 of 100 Workers in Irvine

Advanced Interventional Systems Inc., a maker of lasers for heart surgery, said Thursday it will lay off 30 workers in Irvine because of uncertainty over President Clinton’s health plan and because it recently canceled its proposed merger with a Colorado medical devices firm.

In addition, two company directors, Raymond Williams and Charles French, have resigned.

The layoffs reduce the number of employees at the company’s Irvine headquarters from 100 to about 70. There are still about 70 employees at the company’s Phoenix subsidiary, Polymicro, where no layoffs occurred. Advanced Interventional estimated that the cutbacks will save $1.6 million annually.

Bob Wall, the company’s president, said he will take a 25% pay cut in pay and other top executives agreed to lower salaries, though by a smaller percentage.

The layoffs also were caused by the failure of merger talks with Spectranetics Corp. in Colorado Springs, Colo. The deal fell through Nov. 20 because of information found by a thorough review of Spectranetics’ operations, the company said.

“The issue really is what is happening with all medical devices, especially the uncertainty over what will happen with the Clinton health plan,” Wall said. “We want to ensure we can protect the technology. If we run out of cash, the company goes down.”

The company’s stock was down 25 cents a share in Nasdaq trading on Thursday, closing at $1.25 each.

Advanced Interventional pioneered a method of treating heart disease with a laser system, becoming the first company to receive approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a laser system for clearing blocked arteries in the heart.

Each laser system sells for about $269,000, and that high cost may be hurting the company’s sales, said one medical expert.

“It may be that other methods of treating blocked arteries are equally as good and much cheaper,” said Dr. Michael Berns, director of UCI’s Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic. “You’re dealing with a very expensive piece of equipment that’s high maintenance.”