Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices with approximately 16,000 employees and revenue of $5.6 billion in 2004. For more than 25 years, Boston Scientific has advanced the practice of less-invasive medicine by providing a broad and deep portfolio of innovative products, technologies and services across a wide range of medical specialties. The Company's products help physicians and other medical professionals improve their patients' quality of life by providing alternatives to surgery.

MISSION
Boston Scientific's mission is to improve the quality of patient care and the productivity of health care delivery through the development and advocacy of less-invasive medical devices and procedures. This is accomplished through the continuing refinement of existing products and procedures and the investigation and development of new technologies which can reduce risk, trauma, cost, procedure time and the need for aftercare.

HISTORY
Boston Scientific's history began in the late 1960s, when co-founder John Abele acquired an equity interest in Medi-tech, Inc., a research and development company focused on developing alternatives to traditional surgery. Medi-tech's first products, a family of steerable catheters, were introduced in 1969 and were used in some of the first less-invasive procedures. Versions of these steerable catheters are still used today. In 1979, Abele and Pete Nicholas partnered to buy Medi-tech and together formed Boston Scientific Corporation.