That $1.4 billion investment in Conor Medsystems suddenly doesn’t look so good.

In the latest blow to its stent biz, Johnson & Johnson will stop selling Conor’s drug-coated stent, the CoStar II, in some countries after the device failed in a critical study. The health care giant also canceled its plans to seek US approval of the stent, which was coated with the paclitaxel.

The product missed its goal because of potentially less- than-optimal dosing with the drug, which is supposed to keep scar tissue from reclogging arteries. The disappointment comes not long after J&J paid $1.4 billion for Conor Medsystems in order to gain control of the CoStar stent technology.

“Unfortunately, the dose of paclitaxel used in this trial was ineffective,” says Campbell Rogers, Conor’s chief technology officer for cardiovascular.

Further reading…
Bloomberg News;
Reuters;
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required);
J&J statement.