J&J’s Cordis unit has been having production problems with its Cypher stent. Boston Scientific has been having such bad quality problems that it recalled almost all its stents last month. Apparently the surgeons (oops! Alwin points out that I mean) interventional cardiologists and radiologists who want to use these drug-eluting stents cannot get hold of them for love nor money.

When I was a lad standing on the terraces at Chelsea (note to my American readers: that’s a soccer team), we used to say about one of our more inept forwards–after he missed yet another open goal–that he couldn’t score in a brothel with a roll of hundreds. If I was running BSC or Cordis right now I’d feel like that striker’s coach!

UPDATE: Friday’s Boston Globe has an article suggesting that Boston Scientific’s Taxus recall is even bigger than first thought. So this problem is actually getting worse before it gets better.