St. Jude Medical’s (NYSE:STJ) Durata leads have held up quite well so far despite the notion that many have that the leads are similar in design to the recalled Riata leads and will therefore fail. The company chalks up Durata’s resilience to lead abrasion to a polymer insulation called Elast-Eon that St. Jude has re-branded as Optim. St. Jude licenses Elast-Eon from AorTech International plc, a U.K. holding company whose U.S. operation in Minnesota actually manufactures the material for St. Jude. St. Jude has previously said that it has worked with AorTech and its predecessor since 1999, testing and developing the Elast-Eon product.
