NATICK, Mass. and ATLANTA, March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) today announced preliminary six-month results from its ARRIVE II registry, confirming the safety of the TAXUS® Express2™ coronary stent system in "real-world" patients. ARRIVE II expands on the ARRIVE I registry by studying more than 5,000 consecutively enrolled patients across 53 sites in the U.S., including patients with complex lesions (65 percent), multiple stents (38 percent) and diabetes (32 percent). The Company made the announcement at the i2 Summit held in conjunction with the annual American College of Cardiology Scientific Session in Atlanta.

"The ARRIVE II six-month data is very impressive, especially in light of the high percentage of complex lesions and patients," said John M. Lasala, M.D., Ph.D., of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and the study's Co-Principal Investigator. "The diabetic subset data is particularly notable, showing lower re-intervention rates than the study's broader patient population. The results are very consistent with six-month data from ARRIVE I, further supporting the outstanding performance of the TAXUS stent system in challenging lesions and high-risk patients."

"Taken together, our ARRIVE I and II registries provide us with positive, consistent clinical outcomes data on nearly 7,600 real-world patients, two-thirds of which present with complex lesions," said Paul LaViolette, Chief Operating Officer, Boston Scientific. "When viewed in combination with the broad range of data from our TAXUS clinical trials, the results demonstrate that the TAXUS stent system is a safe and highly effective treatment for coronary artery disease."

The ARRIVE II registry completed enrollment in October 2005 with a total of 5,007 patients. Preliminary clinical findings were collected for the first 4,057 patients (81 percent) enrolled through May 2005. Complete six-month data on all patients will be available in May 2006.

ARRIVE II six-month findings demonstrated an overall TAXUS-related major cardiac event rate of 3.6 percent, including cardiac death (0.7 percent), myocardial infarction (1.2 percent), and TAXUS-related re-intervention of the target vessel (2.5 percent). This compares favorably with six-month ARRIVE I results, which showed an excellent overall TAXUS-related major cardiac event rate of 4.4 percent and a re-intervention rate of 3.1 percent. The ARRIVE II registry reported a low stent thrombosis rate of 1.1 percent, which is consistent with safety data from other DES registries.

The diabetic sub-population analysis demonstrated positive results, showing an overall TAXUS-related major cardiac event rate of 3.3 percent and a re-intervention rate of 1.9 percent. Diabetic patients are generally considered more likely than non-diabetic patients to require repeat procedures due to a higher incidence of restenosis following angioplasty and stenting.

The consecutive enrollment design of ARRIVE II yielded a very diverse and high-risk patient population involving patients with acute myocardial infarction (13.5 percent), multi-vessel stenting (15 percent), stenting of grafts (6.4 percent), small vessels with RVD <2.5 mm (3.1 percent), long lesions >20 mm (20.5 percent) and stenting of in-stent restenotic lesions (5.9 percent). The high percentage of community-based hospitals enlisted in the study also contributed to a wide range of physician experiences and hospital capabilities, which better reflect "real-world" conditions.

Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices whose products are used in a broad range of interventional medical specialties. For more information, please visit: http://www.bostonscientific.com/.

  CONTACT:  Milan Kofol
            508-650-8569
            Investor Relations
            Boston Scientific Corporation

            Paul Donovan
            508-650-8541
            Media Relations
            Boston Scientific Corporation

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Boston Scientific and Guidant have filed a definitive prospectus/joint proxy statement with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. The material contained herein is not a substitute for the definitive prospectus/joint proxy statement or any other documents that Boston Scientific and Guidant have filed or will file with the SEC. Investors and security holders are urged to read the definitive prospectus/joint proxy statement and any other relevant documents filed or to be filed by Boston Scientific or Guidant, because they contain or will contain important information about the proposed transaction. The definitive prospectus/joint proxy statement is, and other documents filed or to be filed by Boston Scientific and Guidant with the SEC are or will be, available free of charge at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov/) or from Boston Scientific by directing a request to Boston Scientific Corporation, One Boston Scientific Place, Natick, Massachusetts 01760-1537, Attention: Milan Kofol, Investor Relations, or from Guidant by directing a request to Guidant Corporation, 111 Monument Circle, 29th Floor, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204, Attention: Investor Relations.

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SOURCE: Boston Scientific Corporation

CONTACT: Milan Kofol, Investor Relations, +1-508-650-8569, or Paul
Donovan, Media Relations, +1-508-650-8541, both of Boston Scientific
Corporation

Web site: http://www.bostonscientific.com/