Boston Scientific Settles Medinol Case

Boston Scientific Corp., the world’s largest maker of stents, agreed to pay $750 million to Medinol Ltd. to settle claims that Boston Scientific broke a contract to jointly manufacture stents when it set up a secret factory in Ireland.

Wednesday’s settlement resolves three lawsuits and establishes a framework for resolving future disputes, Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific said. In the dispute over the Ireland factory, Medinol, a Jerusalem-based medical device maker, sought as much as $4.5 billion in damages, Boston Scientific spokesman Paul Donovan said.

Stents keep arteries open after the plaque-clearing procedure known as angioplasty. The settlement is Boston Scientific’s latest bid to resolve a legal dispute over stents. In June, the company agreed to pay $74 million to settle a Justice Department probe over delays in the handling of a 1998 stent recall.

A lawyer for Medinol at Cravath, Swaine & Moore didn’t return a call seeking comment.