Edwards Lifesciences Corp

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., a maker of heart devices, said it would fire 130 people, or about 2.5% of its more than 5,000 workers, to cut costs. The reductions will result in an expense of $8 million to $10 million taken this quarter, the company said. Ninety jobs will be eliminated in the United States, mostly at Edwards' headquarters in Irvine, spokesman Barry Liden said. Chief Executive Michael Mussallem said the cuts would help the company meet earnings targets.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., benefiting from double-digit sales growth in its cardiac surgery product line, posted strong earnings gains for the fourth quarter. The Irvine company, which makes products to treat cardiovascular disease, also said it expects earnings to increase 20% this year. For the fourth quarter, Edwards said it earned $15.9 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with pro forma net income of $9.3 million, or 16 cents a share, for the same quarter last year.

Cardiovascular device maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit rose 21%, spurred by higher sales of its heart valves. The Irvine-based company said net income rose to $25.5 million, or 41 cents a share, from $21.1 million, or 34 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding charges in the 2003 and 2004 quarters, Edwards posted earnings of $26.5 million, or 43 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared with $23.9 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said Friday it has voluntarily suspended sales and clinical trials of a product that is designed to treat a weakness in the wall of an abdominal artery. The Irvine company said it took the action after discovering that a wire within the Lifepath AAA Endovascular Graft System fractured in two patients.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the largest maker of replacement heart valves, said Friday it has halted use of its surgical patches for protecting dangerously weakened aortas after spotting small cracks in the patches. Routine X-rays of two patients in a trial of the Lifepath AAA Endovascular Graft System revealed the cracks. Neither patient had medical problems as a result of the damaged products.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s stock was hammered after the company said it is lowering its profit estimates for the fourth quarter and 2001 because of a weak euro and sluggish sales in several product lines. Shares of the Irvine company, which makes products that treat cardiovascular disease, plummeted more than 41%, the fifth biggest percentage loss in U.S. markets for the day. The stock closed at $13.44, down $9.50 a share, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., the top maker of replacement heart valves made of animal tissue, accused rival Medtronic Inc. of infringing a patent for a device used in heart-valve surgery. In a suit filed last week in federal court in Delaware, Irvine-based Edwards contends that Medtronic, the No. 1 maker of heart pacemakers, is wrongly selling valve holders based on Edwards' protected technology.

Shares of Edwards Lifesciences Corp., an Irvine developer of cardiovascular products, are scheduled to begin trading officially Monday amid a bullish earnings outlook. The new company, which is being shed by Baxter International Inc. in Deerfield, Ill., will compete against Boston Scientific Corp., Guidant Corp. and Medtronic Inc. in providing products to treat cardiovascular disorders, a market Edwards estimates at $100 billion a year.