J&J Unit Assails Antitrust Analysis in Cardiac Catheter Case

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Biosense Webster Inc. fired back at claims in Los Angeles federal court that it’s leveraging its heart mapping technology monopoly to prevent “reprocessing” of cardiac catheters that can otherwise be used just once.

The lawsuit accuses Biosense of withholding clinical support from hospitals using reprocessed catheters while offering free “case coverage” to those that use newly manufactured ones. The reprocessing market exists because Biosense’s CARTO 3 machine, which controls more than 50% of the market, only works with its own mapping and ultrasound catheters, the suit says.

The CARTO 3, of which there are about 3,000 ...