St. Jude defends Durata amid FDA warning at manufacturing facility

St. Jude Medical CEO Daniel Starks says the FDA's warnings of manufacturing deficiencies at a California plant are unrelated to the safety and reliability of the Durata defibrillator leads that are made there.

St. Jude Medical [1]'s (NYSE:STJ [2]) implanted cardiac device market share is in great shape despite ongoing issues with its high-voltage defibrillator leads, CEO Daniel Starks told an audience at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference last night.

Starks spent a substantial portion his presentation and the subsequent breakout session explaining why the Durata line was a sure thing, and why the Riata lead recall and FDA warnings related to a St. Jude manufacturing plant were no threat to the company's hold on the larger ICD market.