Cordis posts 19 percent growth despite stiff stent competition.

By Glenn Singer, South Florida Sun-Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jan. 26--Johnson & Johnson Inc. said Tuesday its Miami Lakes-based Cordis Corp. recorded 19 percent growth in 2004, despite stiff competition from Boston Scientific Corp. in a drug-coated stent market that is booming throughout the world.

J&J's chairman and chief executive officer, William Weldon, told analysts that Cordis sold $307 million worth of its Cypher drug-coated stent system in the United States last year, representing a 38 percent market share. Boston Scientific continues to lead with an estimated 62 percent, down from the 70 percent the company claimed in …