Guidant Provides Update

Transaction Update

In response to Johnson & Johnson's comments yesterday, Ronald W.Dollens, president and CEO of Guidant Corporation, stated, "Whileneither company depends on this transaction for its continued futuresuccess, Guidant believes that the strategic rationale for combiningthe two companies is as strong today as when we entered into theMerger Agreement." Guidant anticipates that the pending transactionwill receive FTC clearance in October. The Company does not expect tomake any specific comments on the pending transaction until after FTCapproval.

Business Performance

"Guidant's third quarter results will reflect the temporaryunavailability of the CONTAK RENEWAL 3 and 4 family of heart failuredevices during the full month of July and part of August, partiallyoffset by sequential growth of U.S. coronary stent revenue, andcontinuing sales growth of our emerging businesses," Dollens reported."At the end of the quarter, data suggest our implantable defibrillatorimplant rate exceeded 80 percent of the pre-product notification leveland is over 100 percent of the rate one year ago."

Dollens continued, "As previously announced, Guidant is launchingseveral recently approved cardiac rhythm management systems during thefourth quarter, including the revolutionary Latitude PatientManagement system. Physicians are expressing enthusiasm for the newwireless capability to monitor patients, improve their compliance, andmonitor device status independent of patient effort." Dollens furtherobserved, "Our drug eluting stent development program continues tomake important progress toward European launch during the first halfof next year. We are expanding manufacturing capacity, increasingproductivity, and recently received FDA approval to expand clinicaltrial enrollment."

"While recent events and the publicity surrounding them willimpact our short-term results, we believe that the fundamentals of ourbusiness and the markets that we serve remain strong and our outlookis positive," Dollens noted. "Our track record of success over theyears has been driven in large part by the dedication of our people tothe needs of patients and physicians who use our products. We continueto be committed to providing the highest quality products for patientswho critically need them and we are confident that the value of theCompany remains strong."

Cardiac Rhythm Management Products Update

Consistent with an anticipated new product cycle, severalsignificant new products were approved (cleared) by FDA during thethird quarter. They include:

-- VITALITY HE implantable defibrillator; Guidant's first high-energy product to offer the advanced functionality of the VITALITY family.

-- CONTAK RENEWAL 3 RF cardiac resynchronization-defibrillator; this is Guidant's first wireless and wandless CRT-D and is designed to enhance the speed and convenience of patient care.

-- ZOOM LATITUDE programmer; this next generation programmer is designed to interface with devices that include remote monitoring capability.

-- LATITUDE Communicator and secure data storage system; these elements represent the final components of the Latitude Patient Management system.

Actions taken by the Company during the quarter reflect Guidant'scommitment to provide more timely information to physicians andpatients about our devices. Our products continue to demonstrate highperformance and reliability, and tens of thousands of people are alivetoday and hundreds of thousands feel better as a result of Guidant'stechnologies. Guidant will continue to focus on meeting and exceedingthe expectations of physicians, patients and the FDA.

Drug Eluting Stent Progress

Guidant announced today that its drug eluting stent developmentprogram continues to demonstrate progress and the Company has enrolledmore than 500 patients in the SPIRIT II and III clinical trials sinceJune. SPIRIT III is a large-scale pivotal clinical trial evaluatingXIENCE(TM) V, an everolimus eluting coronary stent system utilizingGuidant's cobalt chromium rapid-exchange MULTI-LINK VISION(R) RXCoronary Stent System platform. Guidant plans to use the results ofthe SPIRIT III trial to obtain FDA approval for XIENCE V for thetreatment of coronary artery disease. Results of the SPIRIT II studywill provide additional clinical data to support the launch of XIENCEV in Europe and several countries outside the United States.

Earlier in the quarter, Guidant announced attainment of anenrollment milestone in the Company's exclusive license agreement withNovartis Pharma AG. Novartis supplies everolimus to Guidant for use indrug eluting stents and provides access to data supporting Guidantfilings with regulatory agencies.

In addition, the Company plans to present one-year follow up datafrom SPIRIT I at the American Heart Association meeting in November2005. SPIRIT I is a prospective, randomized, single-blind pilot studyevaluating XIENCE V versus an uncoated MULTI-LINK VISION CoronaryStent System control in de novo (previously untreated) lesions.

During the quarter, the Company also announced that itsuccessfully concluded an inspection of its drug eluting stentmanufacturing and quality systems at its Temecula site. Thisinspection was conducted by Guidant's European Notified Body, which isalso reviewing the Company's submission for CE Mark approval to marketthe XIENCE(TM) V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System in Europe.The Notified Body found no nonconformities and will recommendcertification for Guidant's manufacturing facility.

Guidant Corporation

Guidant Corporation pioneers lifesaving technology, giving anopportunity for a better life today to millions of cardiac andvascular patients worldwide. The Company, driven by a strongentrepreneurial culture of more than 12,000 employees, develops,manufactures and markets a broad array of products and services thatenable less invasive care for some of life's most threatening medicalconditions. For more information, visit www.guidant.com.

This release includes forward-looking statements that are based onassumptions about many important factors, including market trends andcompetition, particularly in connection with expanded indications andreimbursement for cardiac rhythm management products; satisfactoryclinical and regulatory progress; progress with respect to the merger,including satisfaction of conditions to closing, including antitrustapprovals; economic conditions, including exchange rates; litigationdevelopments; and the factors listed on exhibit 99 to Guidant's mostrecent 10-Q. As such, they involve risks that could cause actualresults to differ materially. The company does not undertake to updateits forward-looking statements.