Cordis president resigns as stent market flounders.

In July, the hemorrhaging of upper-management jobs at Cordis continued with the resignation of Todd Pope, worldwide president of the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.

Pope left to "pursue opportunities outside J&J" and spend more time with his family, according to the company. As of press time, Miami Lakes, FL-baed Cordis had not yet named a replacement, and company officials would not discuss a timeframe for naming his successor. In the meantime, the unit will be led by Chairman Seth Fischer, who replaced Rick Anderson in January.

Before he joined Cordis, Pope served as CEO of Liquida Technologies, a Durham, NC-based nanotechnology company that designs, develops and manufactures particles and films for the life-sciences industry. He also served as vice president of Global Sales and Marketing at the Neurovascular Division of Boston Scientific and was president of the American Tools Division of Atlanta, GA-based Newell Rubbermaid.

Pope is the seventh person in senior management to leave Cordis in recent months. Other notable departures included Anderson, the company's group chairman; Dr. David Kandzari, chief medical officer; Mark Valentine, vice president of sales; Brian Firth, vice president of health economics, and his replacement, Liesl Cooper; and Denis Donohoe, vice president of clinical affairs.

A company spokesman said several departures were part of a natural attrition process: Kandzari left to devote more time and attention to his medical practice, while Donohoe and Firth both retired.

Analysts, though, argued that the executives' exodus was driven more by a faltering stent market than a desire to stop working. In the last year, the market for stents--small wire-mesh devices that hold heart arteries open--has shrunk amid conflicting data about their safety. The controversy has negatively impacted sales at companies such as Cordis, which manufactures drug-coated stents and is working to develop new generations of the device.

The cooling market for stents prompted Natick, MA-based Boston Scientific, one of Cordis' major competitors, to cut 2,300 jobs worldwide and restructure several of its businesses. The company also cut between 12% and 13% of its expenses this year in an effort to reduce costs and announced plans to trim an additional $25 million to $50 million in 2009.