There were no changes in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the third quarter of 2010 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
We are the subject of various pending or threatened legal actions and proceedings, including those that arise in the ordinary course of our business. Such matters are subject to many uncertainties and to outcomes that are not predictable with assurance and that may not be known for extended periods of time. We record a liability in our consolidated financial statements for costs related to claims, including future legal costs, settlements and judgments, where we have assessed that a loss is probable and an amount can be reasonably estimated. Our significant legal proceedings are discussed in Note 7 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and are incorporated herein by reference. While it is not possible to predict the outcome for most of the legal proceedings discussed in Note 7, the costs associated with such proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated earnings, financial position or cash flows of a future period.
Our business faces many risks. Any of the risks discussed below, or elsewhere in this Form 10-Q or our other SEC filings, could have a material impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
The medical device market is intensely competitive and is characterized by extensive research and development and rapid technological change. Our customers consider many factors when choosing suppliers, including product reliability, clinical outcomes, product availability, inventory consignment, price and product services provided by the manufacturer, and market share can shift as a result of technological innovation and other business factors. Major shifts in industry market share have occurred in connection with product problems, physician advisories and safety alerts, reflecting the importance of product quality in the medical device industry. Our competitors range from small start-up companies to larger companies which have significantly greater resources and broader product offerings than us, and we anticipate that in the coming years, other large companies will enter certain markets in which we currently hold a strong position. For example, Boston Scientific acquired one of our principal competitors, Guidant Corporation, in 2006. In addition, we expect that competition will continue to intensify with the increased use of strategies such as consigned inventory, and we have seen increasing price competition as a result of managed care, consolidation among healthcare providers, increased competition and declining reimbursement rates. Product introductions or enhancements by competitors which have advanced technology, better features or lower pricing may make our products or proposed products obsolete or less competitive. As a result, we will be required to devote continued efforts and financial resources to bring our products under development to market, enhance our existing products and develop new products for the medical marketplace. If we fail to develop new products, enhance existing products or compete effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be adversely affected.
Our products, development activities and manufacturing processes are subject to extensive and rigorous regulation by numerous government agencies, including the FDA and comparable foreign agencies. To varying degrees, each of these agencies monitors and enforces our compliance with laws and regulations governing the development, testing, manufacturing, labeling, marketing and distribution of our medical devices. The process of obtaining marketing approval or clearance from the FDA and comparable foreign bodies for new products, or for enhancements or modifications to existing products, could:
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| • | involve modifications, repairs or replacements of our products, and |
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| • | result in limitations on the indicated uses of our products. |
We cannot be certain that we will receive required approval or clearance from the FDA and foreign regulatory agencies for new products or modifications to existing products on a timely basis. The failure to receive approval or clearance for significant new products or modifications to existing products on a timely basis could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Both before and after a product is commercially released, we have ongoing responsibilities under FDA regulations. For example, we are required to comply with the FDA’s Quality System Regulation (QSR), which mandates that manufacturers of medical devices adhere to certain quality assurance requirements pertaining to, among other things, validation of manufacturing processes, controls for purchasing product components, and documentation practices. As another example, the Federal Medical Device Reporting regulation requires us to provide information to the FDA whenever there is evidence that reasonably suggests that a device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or, that a malfunction occurred which would be likely to cause or contribute to a death or serious injury upon recurrence. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic inspections by the FDA, which may result in observations on Form 483, and in some cases warning letters, that require corrective action. If the FDA were to conclude that we are not in compliance with applicable laws or regulations, or that any of our medical devices are ineffective or pose an unreasonable health risk, the FDA could ban such medical devices, detain or seize such medical devices, order a recall, repair, replacement, or refund of such devices, or require us to notify health professionals and others that the devices present unreasonable risks of substantial harm to the public health. The FDA has recently been increasing its scrutiny of the medical device industry and the government should be expected to continue to scrutinize the industry closely with inspections, and possibly enforcement actions, by the FDA or other agencies. Additionally, the FDA may restrict manufacturing and impose other operating restrictions, enjoin and restrain certain violations of applicable law pertaining to medical devices, and assess civil or criminal penalties against our officers, employees, or us. The FDA may also recommend prosecution to the Department of Justice. Any adverse regulatory action, depending on its magnitude, may restrict us from effectively manufacturing, marketing and selling our products. In addition, negative publicity and product liability claims resulting from any adverse regulatory action could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Foreign governmental regulations have become increasingly stringent and more common, and we may become subject to even more rigorous regulation by foreign governmental authorities in the future. Penalties for a company’s noncompliance with foreign governmental regulation could be severe, including revocation or suspension of a company’s business license and criminal sanctions. Any domestic or foreign governmental medical device law or regulation imposed in the future may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and business operations.
Our products are continually the subject of clinical trials conducted by us, our competitors or other third parties, the results of which may be unfavorable, or perceived as unfavorable by the market, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
As a part of the regulatory process of obtaining marketing clearance for new products and new indications for existing products, we conduct and participate in numerous clinical trials with a variety of study designs, patient populations and trial endpoints. Unfavorable or inconsistent clinical data from existing or future clinical trials conducted by us, by our competitors or by third parties, or the market’s or FDA’s perception of this clinical data, may adversely impact our ability to obtain product approvals, our position in, and share of, the markets in which we participate and our business, financial condition, results of operations or future prospects.
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property effectively, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Patents and other proprietary rights are essential to our business and our ability to compete effectively with other companies is dependent upon the proprietary nature of our technologies. We also rely upon trade secrets, know-how, continuing technological innovations and licensing opportunities to develop, maintain and strengthen our competitive position. We seek to protect these, in part, through confidentiality agreements with certain employees, consultants and other parties. We pursue a policy of generally obtaining patent protection in both the United States and in key foreign countries for patentable subject matter in our proprietary devices and also attempt to review third-party patents and patent applications to the extent publicly available to develop an effective patent strategy, avoid infringement of third-party patents, identify licensing opportunities and monitor the patent claims of others. We currently own numerous United States and foreign patents and have numerous patent applications pending. We are also a party to various license agreements pursuant to which patent rights have been obtained or granted in consideration for cash, cross-licensing rights or royalty payments. We cannot be certain that any pending or future patent applications will result in issued patents, that any current or future patents issued to or licensed by us will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented or that the rights granted thereunder will provide a competitive advantage to us or prevent competitors from entering markets which we currently serve. Any required license may not be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, some licenses may be non-exclusive, and therefore our competitors may have access to the same technologies as us. In addition, we may have to take legal action in the future to protect our trade secrets or know-how or to defend them against claimed infringement of the rights of others. Any legal action of that type could be costly and time consuming to us and we cannot be certain of the outcome. The invalidation of key patents or proprietary rights which we own or an unsuccessful outcome in lawsuits to protect our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
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Pending and future patent litigation could be costly and disruptive to us and may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We operate in an industry that is susceptible to significant patent litigation and, in recent years, it has been common for companies in the medical device field to aggressively challenge the rights of other companies to prevent the marketing of new devices. Companies that obtain patents for products or processes that are necessary for or useful to the development of our products may bring legal actions against us claiming infringement and at any given time, we generally are involved as both a plaintiff and a defendant in a number of patent infringement and other intellectual property-related actions. Defending intellectual property litigation is expensive and complex and outcomes are difficult to predict. Any pending or future patent litigation may result in significant royalty or other payments or injunctions that can prevent the sale of products and may cause a significant diversion of the efforts of our technical and management personnel. While we intend to defend any such lawsuits vigorously, we cannot be certain that we will be successful. In the event that our right to market any of our products is successfully challenged or if we fail to obtain a required license or are unable to design around a patent, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Pending and future product liability claims and litigation may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
The design, manufacture and marketing of the medical devices we produce entail an inherent risk of product liability claims. Our products are often used in intensive care settings with seriously ill patients, and many of the medical devices we manufacture and sell are designed to be implanted in the human body for long periods of time or indefinitely. There are a number of factors that could result in an unsafe condition or injury to, or death of, a patient with respect to these or other products which we manufacture or sell, including component failures, manufacturing flaws, design defects or inadequate disclosure of product-related risks or product-related information. Product liability claims may be brought by individuals or by groups seeking to represent a class.
We are currently the subject of various product liability claims, including several lawsuits in the United States and a lawsuit being allowed to proceed as a class action in Canada relating to products incorporating Silzone® coating. The outcome of litigation, particularly class action lawsuits, is difficult to assess or quantify. Plaintiffs in these types of lawsuits often seek recovery of very large or indeterminate amounts, and the magnitude of the potential loss relating to such lawsuits may remain unknown for substantial periods of time. We believe that the final resolution of the Silzone litigation matters may take a number of years and cannot reasonably estimate the time frame in which any potential settlements or judgments would be paid out or the amounts of any such settlements or judgments. In addition, the cost to defend any future litigation, whether Silzone-related or not, may be significant. We believe that many settlements and judgments relating to the Silzone litigation and our other litigation may be covered in whole or in part under our previously-issued product liability insurance policies and existing reserves. Any costs (the material components of which are settlements, judgments, legal fees and other related defense costs) not covered under our previously-issued product liability insurance policies and existing reserves could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated earnings, financial position and cash flows.
Our product liability insurers may refuse to cover certain losses on the grounds that such losses are outside the scope of our product liability insurance policies.
One of our prior product liability insurers has filed a suit seeking a court order declaring that it is not required to provide coverage for some of the costs we have incurred or may incur in the future in the Silzone® litigation described above. This insurer, as well as other insurers from whom it had purchased product liability insurance, may deny coverage of these and other past and/or future losses relating to our products on the grounds that such losses are outside the scope of coverage of those previously-issued insurance policies. To the extent that we suffer losses that are outside of the scope or range of coverage of those previously-issued product liability insurance policies, those losses may have a material adverse effect on our consolidated earnings, financial position and cash flows.
Our self-insurance program may not be adequate to cover future losses.
Consistent with the predominant practice in our industry, we do not currently maintain or intend to maintain any insurance policies with respect to product liability in the future. This decision was made based on current conditions in the insurance marketplace that have led to increasingly higher levels of self-insured retentions, increasing number of coverage limitations and high insurance premium rates. We will continue to monitor the insurance marketplace to evaluate the value to us of obtaining insurance coverage in the future. We believe that our self-insurance program, which is based on historical loss trends, will be adequate to cover future losses, although we can provide no assurances that this will remain true as historical trends may not be indicative of future losses. These losses could have a material adverse impact on our consolidated earnings, financial condition or cash flows.
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The loss of any of our sole-source suppliers or an increase in the price of inventory supplied to us could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We purchase certain supplies used in our manufacturing processes from single sources due to quality considerations, costs or constraints resulting from regulatory requirements. Agreements with certain suppliers are terminable by either party upon short notice and we have been advised periodically by some suppliers that in an effort to reduce their potential product liability exposure, they may terminate sales of products to customers that manufacture implantable medical devices. While some of these suppliers have modified their positions and have indicated a willingness to continue to provide a product temporarily until an alternative vendor or product can be qualified (or even to reconsider the supply relationship), where a particular single-source supply relationship is terminated, we may not be able to establish additional or replacement suppliers for certain components or materials quickly. This is largely due to the FDA approval system, which mandates validation of materials prior to use in our products, and the complex nature of manufacturing processes employed by many suppliers. In addition, we may lose a sole-source supplier due to, among other things, the acquisition of such a supplier by a competitor (which may cause the supplier to stop selling its products to us) or the bankruptcy of such a supplier, which may cause the supplier to cease operations. A reduction or interruption by a sole-source supplier of the supply of materials or key components used in the manufacturing of our products or an increase in the price of those materials or components could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Cost containment pressures and domestic and foreign legislative or administrative reforms resulting in restrictive reimbursement practices of third-party payors or preferences for alternate therapies could decrease the demand for products purchased by our customers, the prices which they are willing to pay for those products and the number of procedures using our devices.
Our products are purchased principally by healthcare providers that typically bill various third-party payors, such as governmental programs (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid), private insurance plans and managed care plans, for the healthcare services provided to their patients. The ability of customers to obtain appropriate reimbursement for their services and the products they provide from government and third-party payors is critical to the success of medical technology companies. The availability of reimbursement affects which products customers purchase and the prices they are willing to pay. Reimbursement varies from country to country and can significantly impact the acceptance of new technology. After we develop a promising new product, we may find limited demand for the product unless reimbursement approval is obtained from private and governmental third-party payors.
Major third-party payors for healthcare provider services in the United States and abroad continue to work to contain healthcare costs. The introduction of cost containment incentives, combined with closer scrutiny of healthcare expenditures by both private health insurers and employers, has resulted in increased discounts and contractual adjustments to healthcare provider charges for services performed and in the shifting of services between inpatient and outpatient settings. Initiatives to limit the growth of healthcare costs, including price regulation, are also underway in several countries in which we do business. Implementation of healthcare reforms in the United States and in significant overseas markets such as Germany, Japan and other countries may limit the price of, or the level at which, reimbursement is provided for our products and adversely affect both our pricing flexibility and the demand for our products. Healthcare providers may respond to such cost-containment pressures by substituting lower cost products or other therapies for our products.
In March 2010, significant health care reform was enacted into law in the United States, which included a number of provisions aimed at improving quality and decreasing costs. It is uncertain what consequences these provisions will have on patient access to new technologies and what impacts these provisions will have on Medicare reimbursement rates. Legislative or administrative reforms to the U.S. or international reimbursement systems that significantly reduce reimbursement for procedures using our medical devices or deny coverage for such procedures, or adverse decisions relating to our products by administrators of such systems in coverage or reimbursement issues, would have an adverse impact on the products, including clinical products, purchased by our customers and the prices our customers are willing to pay for them. This in turn would have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our failure to comply with restrictions relating to reimbursement and regulation of healthcare goods and services may subject us to penalties and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our devices are subject to regulation regarding quality and cost by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as comparable state and foreign agencies responsible for reimbursement and regulation of healthcare goods and services. Foreign governments also impose regulations in connection with their healthcare reimbursement programs and the delivery of healthcare goods and services. U.S. federal government healthcare laws apply when we submit a claim on behalf of a U.S. federal healthcare program beneficiary, or when a customer submits a claim for an item or service that is reimbursed under a U.S. federal government funded healthcare program, such as Medicare or Medicaid. The principal U.S. federal laws implicated include those that prohibit the filing of false or improper claims for federal payment, those that prohibit unlawful inducements for the referral of business reimbursable under federally-funded healthcare programs, known as the anti-kickback laws, and those that prohibit healthcare service providers seeking reimbursement for providing certain services to a patient who was referred by a physician that has certain types of direct or indirect financial relationships with the service provider, known as the Stark law.
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The laws applicable to us are subject to evolving interpretations. If a governmental authority were to conclude that we are not in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, we and our officers and employees could be subject to severe criminal and civil penalties, including, for example, exclusion from participation as a supplier of product to beneficiaries covered by CMS. If we are excluded from participation based on such an interpretation, it could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Consolidation in the healthcare industry could lead to demands for price concessions or limit or eliminate our ability to sell to certain of our significant market segments.
The cost of healthcare has risen significantly over the past decade and numerous initiatives and reforms initiated by legislators, regulators and third-party payors to curb these costs have resulted in a consolidation trend in the medical device industry as well as among our customers, including healthcare providers. This in turn has resulted in greater pricing pressures and limitations on our ability to sell to important market segments, as group purchasing organizations, independent delivery networks and large single accounts, such as the Veterans Administration in the United States, continue to consolidate purchasing decisions for some of our healthcare provider customers. We expect that market demand, government regulation, third-party reimbursement policies and societal pressures will continue to change the worldwide healthcare industry, resulting in further business consolidations and alliances which may exert further downward pressure on the prices of our products and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Failure to integrate acquired businesses into our operations successfully could adversely affect our business.
As part of our strategy to develop and identify new products and technologies, we have made several acquisitions in recent years and may make additional acquisitions in the future. Our integration of the operations of acquired businesses requires significant efforts, including the coordination of information technologies, research and development, sales and marketing, operations, manufacturing and finance. These efforts result in additional expenses and involve significant amounts of management’s time that cannot then be dedicated to other projects. Our failure to manage successfully and coordinate the growth of the combined company could also have an adverse impact on our business. In addition, we cannot be certain that the businesses we acquire will become profitable or remain so. If our acquisitions are not successful, we may record unexpected impairment charges. Factors that will affect the success of our acquisitions include:
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| • | the presence or absence of adequate internal controls and/or significant fraud in the financial systems of acquired companies; |
| • | adverse developments arising out of investigations by governmental entities of the business practices of acquired companies; |
| • | any decrease in customer loyalty and product orders caused by dissatisfaction with the combined companies’ product lines and sales and marketing practices, including price increases; |
| • | our ability to retain key employees; and |
| • | the ability of the combined company to achieve synergies among its constituent companies, such as increasing sales of the combined company’s products, achieving cost savings and effectively combining technologies to develop new products. |
The success of many of our products depends upon strong relationships with physicians.
If we fail to maintain our working relationships with physicians, many of our products may not be developed and marketed in line with the needs and expectations of the professionals who use and support our products. The research, development, marketing and sales of many of our new and improved products is dependent upon our maintaining working relationships with physicians. We rely on these professionals to provide us with considerable knowledge and experience regarding our products and the marketing of our products. Physicians assist us as researchers, marketing consultants, product consultants, inventors and as public speakers. If we are unable to maintain our strong relationships with these professionals and continue to receive their advice and input, the development and marketing of our products could suffer, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
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Instability in international markets or foreign currency fluctuations could adversely affect our results of operations.
Our products are currently marketed in more than 100 countries around the world, with our largest geographic markets outside of the United States being Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific. As a result, we face currency and other risks associated with our international sales. We are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations due to transactions denominated primarily in Euros, Japanese Yen, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars, Brazilian Reals, British Pounds and Swedish Kronor, which may potentially reduce the U.S. Dollars we receive for sales denominated in any of these foreign currencies and/or increase the U.S. Dollars we report as expenses in these currencies, thereby affecting our reported consolidated revenues and net earnings. Fluctuations between the currencies in which we do business have caused and will continue to cause foreign currency transaction gains and losses. We cannot predict the effects of currency exchange rate fluctuations upon our future operating results because of the number of currencies involved, the variability of currency exposures and the volatility of currency exchange rates.
In addition to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, there are a number of additional risks associated with our international operations, including those related to:
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| • | the imposition of or increase in import or export duties, surtaxes, tariffs or customs duties; |
| • | the imposition of import or export quotas or other trade restrictions; |
| • | foreign tax laws and potential increased costs associated with overlapping tax structures; |
| • | compliance with import/export laws; |
| • | longer accounts receivable cycles in certain foreign countries, whether due to cultural, exchange rate or other factors; |
| • | changes in regulatory requirements in international markets in which we operate; and |
| • | economic and political instability in foreign countries, including concerns over excessive levels of national debt and budget deficits in countries where we market our products that could result in an inability to pay or timely pay outstanding payables. |
The medical device industry is the subject of numerous governmental investigations into marketing and other business practices. These investigations could result in the commencement of civil and/or criminal proceedings, substantial fines, penalties and/or administrative remedies, divert the attention of St. Jude Medical’s management and have an adverse effect on its financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to rigorous regulation by the FDA and numerous other federal, state and foreign governmental authorities. These authorities have been increasing their scrutiny of our industry. We have received subpoenas and other requests for information from state and federal governmental agencies, including, among others, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. These investigations relate primarily to financial arrangements with health care providers, regulatory compliance and product promotional practices. We are cooperating with these investigations and responding to these requests.
In October 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice, acting through the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, commenced an industry-wide investigation into whether the provision of payments and/or services by makers of ICDs and bradycardia pacemaker systems (pacemakers) to doctors or other persons constitutes improper inducements under the federal health care program anti-kickback law. As part of this investigation, we have received three subpoenas from the government requesting documents regarding our practices related to ICDs, pacemakers, lead systems and related products marketed by our CRM operating segment. We have cooperated with the investigation and produced documents and witnesses as requested. In January 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts unsealed a qui tam action (private individual bringing suit on behalf of the U.S. Government) filed by a former employee containing allegations relating to the issues covered by the subpoenas. Although in December 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice had declined to intervene in this qui tam suit, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in August 2010 to intervene. The Court granted the U.S. Department of Justice’s motion, without prejudice to us, and also directed the U.S. Department of Justice to file its complaint by August 31, 2010. The U.S. Department of Justice has indicated that it intends only to pursue alleged claims related to four post-market studies conducted by us primarily in 2004-2006. The Court also ruled that we may file an objection to the August 2010 U.S. Department of Justice intervention and argue that the U.S. Department of Justice has not established good cause to intervene. The Court vacated the deadline for the U.S. Department of Justice to file its complaint, and scheduled the case for a status hearing on November 29, 2010.
Additionally, in December 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston delivered a subpoena issued by the OIG requesting the production of documents relating to implantable cardiac rhythm device and pacemaker warranty claims.
In March 2010, we received a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The CID requests documents and sets forth interrogatories related to communications by and within our company on various indications for ICDs and a National Coverage Decision issued by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Similar requests were made of our major competitors.
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We are fully cooperating with these investigations and are responding to these requests. However, we cannot predict when these investigations will be resolved, the outcome of these investigations or their impact on the company. An adverse outcome in one or more of these investigations could include the commencement of civil and/or criminal proceedings, substantial fines, penalties and/or administrative remedies, including exclusion from government reimbursement programs. In addition, resolution of any of these matters could involve the imposition of additional and costly compliance obligations. Finally, if these investigations continue over a long period of time, they could divert the attention of management from the day-to-day operations of its business and impose significant administrative burdens on it. These potential consequences, as well as any adverse outcome from these investigations or other investigations initiated by the government at any time, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Regulatory actions arising from the concern over Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy may limit our ability to market products containing bovine material.
Our Angio-Seal™ vascular closure device, as well as our vascular graft products, contain bovine collagen. In addition, some of the tissue heart valves we market, such as our Biocor® and Epic™ tissue heart valves, incorporate bovine pericardial material. Certain medical device regulatory agencies may prohibit the sale of medical devices that incorporate any bovine material because of concerns over BSE, sometimes referred to as “mad cow disease,” a disease which may be transmitted to humans through the consumption of beef. While we are not aware of any reported cases of transmission of BSE through medical products and are cooperating with regulatory agencies considering these issues, the suspension or revocation of authority to manufacture, market or distribute products containing bovine material, or the imposition of a regulatory requirement that we procure material for these products from alternate sources, could result in lost market opportunities, harm the continued commercialization and distribution of such products and impose additional costs on us. Any of these consequences could in turn have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We are not insured against all potential losses. Natural disasters or other catastrophes could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our facilities could be materially damaged by earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters or catastrophic circumstances, including acts of war. For example, we have significant CRM facilities located in Sylmar and Sunnyvale, California. Earthquake insurance in California is currently difficult to obtain, extremely costly and restrictive with respect to scope of coverage. Our earthquake insurance for these California facilities provides $10 million of insurance coverage in the aggregate, with a deductible equal to 5% of the total value of the facility and contents involved in the claim. Consequently, despite this insurance coverage, we could incur uninsured losses and liabilities arising from an earthquake near one or both of our California facilities as a result of various factors, including the severity and location of the earthquake, the extent of any damage to our facilities, the impact of an earthquake on our California workforce and on the infrastructure of the surrounding communities and the extent of damage to our inventory and work in process. While we believe that our exposure to significant losses from a California earthquake could be partially mitigated by our ability to manufacture some of our CRM products at our manufacturing facilities in Sweden and Puerto Rico, the losses could have a material adverse effect on our business for an indeterminate period of time before this manufacturing transition is complete and operates without significant problems. Furthermore, our manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico may suffer damage as a result of hurricanes which are frequent in the Caribbean and which could result in lost production and additional expenses to us to the extent any such damage is not fully covered by our hurricane and business interruption insurance.
Even with insurance coverage, natural disasters or other catastrophic events, including acts of war, could cause us to suffer substantial losses in our operational capacity and could also lead to a loss of opportunity and to a potential adverse impact on our relationships with our existing customers resulting from our inability to produce products for them, for which we would not be compensated by existing insurance. This in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our operations are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations that could require us to incur material costs.
Our operations are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations concerning, among other things, the generation, handling, transportation and disposal of hazardous substances or wastes, particularly ethylene oxide, the cleanup of hazardous substance releases, and emissions or discharges into the air or water. We have incurred and expect to incur expenditures in the future in connection with compliance with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. New laws and regulations, violations of these laws or regulations, stricter enforcement of existing requirements, or the discovery of previously unknown contamination could require us to incur costs or become the basis for new or increased liabilities that could be material.
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Failure to successfully implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system could adversely affect our business.
We are in the process of converting to a new ERP system. Failure to smoothly execute the implementation of the ERP system could adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations.
Current economic conditions could adversely affect our results of operations.
The global financial crisis has caused extreme disruption in the financial markets, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability. There can be no assurance that there will not be further deterioration in the global economy, and these and other factors beyond our control may adversely affect our ability to borrow money in the credit markets and to obtain financing for acquisitions or other general corporate and commercial purposes. Our customers may experience financial difficulties or be unable to borrow money to fund their operations which may adversely impact their ability or decision to purchase our products or to pay for products they do purchase on a timely basis, if at all. The strength and timing of any economic recovery remains uncertain, and we cannot predict to what extent the global economic slowdown may negatively impact our average selling prices, our net sales and profit margins, procedural volumes and reimbursement rates from third party payors. In addition, the current economic conditions may adversely affect our suppliers, leading them to experience financial difficulties or to be unable to borrow money to fund their operations, which could cause disruptions in our ability to produce our products.
Our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be significantly and adversely affected by recent healthcare reform legislation and other administration and legislative proposals.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Educational Reconciliation Act (the Acts) were enacted into law in March 2010. As a U.S. headquartered company with significant sales in the United States, this health care reform legislation will materially impact us as well as the U.S. economy. Certain provisions of the Acts will not be effective for a number of years and there are many programs and requirements for which the details have not yet been fully established or consequences not fully understood, and it is unclear what the full impacts will be from the legislation.. The legislation does levy a 2.3% excise tax on all U.S. medical device sales beginning in 2013. This is a significant new tax that will materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. The legislation also focuses on a number of Medicare provisions aimed at improving quality and decreasing costs. It is uncertain at this point what negative unintended consequences these provisions will have on patient access to new technologies. The Medicare provisions include value-based payment programs, increased funding of comparative effectiveness research, reduced hospital payments for avoidable readmissions and hospital acquired conditions, and pilot programs to evaluate alternative payment methodologies that promote care coordination (such as bundled physician and hospital payments). Additionally, the provisions include a reduction in the annual rate of inflation for hospitals starting in 2011 and the establishment of an independent payment advisory board to recommend ways of reducing the rate of growth in Medicare spending. We cannot predict what healthcare programs and regulations will be ultimately implemented at the federal or state level, or the effect of any future legislation or regulation. However, any changes that lower reimbursements for our products or reduce medical procedure volumes could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Changes in tax laws or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could have a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to income taxes as well as non-income based taxes, in both the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. We are subject to ongoing tax audits in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with certain positions we have taken and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these audits in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. However, there can be no assurance that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these audits, and the actual outcomes of these audits could have a material impact on our net income or financial condition. Additionally, changes in tax laws or tax rulings could materially impact our effective tax rate. For example, proposals for fundamental U.S. international tax reform, such as the recent proposal by the Obama administration, if enacted, could have a significant adverse impact on our future results of operations. In addition, recent health care legislation levies a 2.3% excise tax on all U.S. medical device sales beginning in 2013.
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Item 6. | EXHIBITS |
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12 | Computation of Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges. |
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31.1 | Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
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31.2 | Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
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32.1 | Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
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32.2 | Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. |
| |
101 | Financial statements from the quarterly report on Form 10-Q of St. Jude Medical, Inc. for the quarter ended October 2, 2010, formatted in XBRL: (i) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings, (ii) the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, (iii) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and (iv) the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. |
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Table of Contents
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
| | |
| | ST. JUDE MEDICAL, INC. |
| | |
November 9, 2010 | | /s/ JOHN C. HEINMILLER |
DATE | | JOHN C. HEINMILLER |
| | Executive Vice President |
| | and Chief Financial Officer |
| | (Duly Authorized Officer and |
| | Principal Financial and |
| | Accounting Officer) |
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Table of Contents
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
| | |
Exhibit
No. | | Description |
| | |
12 | | Computation of Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges. # |
| | |
31.1 | | Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. # |
| | |
31.2 | | Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. # |
| | |
32.1 | | Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. # |
| | |
32.1 | | Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. # |
| | |
101 | | Financial statements from the quarterly report on Form 10-Q of St. Jude Medical, Inc. for the quarter ended October 2, 2010, formatted in XBRL: (i) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings, (ii) the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, (iii) the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows and (iv) the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.* |
| | |
|
| |
# | Filed as an exhibit to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. |
* | Furnished herewith. |
40
