Meet the Fischells. Four members of one family are collectively responsible for filing more than 200 patents in the medical device field, founding more than 14 device companies, including NeuroPace, Neuralieve, Angel Medical, Svelte Medical and GlucoTec, and inventing the world's most widely-used implantable medical device in the history of the industry, the stent design sold by Johnson & Johnson as the Bx Velocity. START-UP interviews the four Fischells to learn the secrets of their success.

Having built up a $500 million business with the only approved coronary stent on the US market, Johnson & Johnson's Cordis watched virtually all of it slip away to competitors who came to market with superior products. But now the company is back, with the introduction of a new line of stents, expansion into a broad line of cardio- and vascular products, and a head start in one of the most promising device areas: drug-coated stents. Cordis' goal: to be number one again.

Novoste is out to show that the changing device world still has room, in the right market, for a small single-product company to succeed against larger competitors.

Despite increasing worldwide competition, the coronary stent market continues to be technology driven, as new devices allow interventional cardiologists to customize treatment for different kinds of lesions. In the US, J&J’s patent will be key to the evolution of the market, but overseas, competitors are making inroads, often with stents that address issues not satisfactorily addressed by J&J’s stent.