With a Dec. 3 trial date fast approaching, Boston Scientific and the ECRI Institute have settled a potentially controversial lawsuit that could have spotlighted efforts by Boston Scientific and other medical device companies to keep the prices of their major products secret. No terms were disclosed. ECRI, a nonprofit consulting and market research firm based in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., collects data on medical device prices from more than 400 hospital clients and, in return, discloses to them the average and lowest-selling prices for each product. The hospitals use the information as a tool in negotiations with the companies. Boston Scientific had said that ECRI illegally disclosed its trade secrets. It also argued that ECRI interfered with its business relationships by inducing hospitals to violate sales contracts that require the hospitals not to disclose the prices they pay for Boston Scientific’s heart defibrillators and other devices. The lawsuit had drawn attention to arguments that the secrecy in device pricing has contributed to rising costs. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has introduced legislation that would require the device industry to disclose average prices on a quarterly basis starting in 2009. Jeffrey Lerner, the chief executive of ECRI, declined to comment on whether the settlement would require ECRI to change its price consulting service. SOURCE: New York Times