Boston Scientific CEO Disparages St. Jude's, Medtronic's Products

Boston Scientific CEO Ray Elliott let fly with some disparaging remarks about competitors' products on Monday, and his words are still reverberating, forming the basis for a Wall Street Journal story about the rivalry between Elliott's company and St. Jude Medical. 

Elliott's juicy remarks, as reported by MassDevice, included the following:

On Medtronic's new cardioverter-defibrillator: 

"Protecta is a catch-up product," Elliot said. "We've had that technology since 2008. I know Medtronic wouldn't agree, but they'd be wrong."

On St. Jude's new quadripolar pacing lead:

"There's been a massive amount of curb appeal on the [Quartet], but it's really 99 percent hype. It's as simple as that."

According to the Journal, Boston Scientific is also going to offer a warranty on defibrillators that cause chronic phrenic nerve stimulation, which presents as hiccup-like sensations for the patient. This is the side effect that, of course, St. Jude's new leads are designed to avoid. 

The article goes on to detail the somewhat contentious atmosphere surrounding St. Jude's new technology.

What do you think? Is this kind of smack talk something that CEOs should engage in? How would you react if your CEO ragged on your competition's products?

– Thomas Blair