VIENNA, September 4 /PRNewswire/ --     Clinical investigators at the European Society of Cardiology
Congress 2007 (ESC Congress 2007) reported that the CYPHER(R)
Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent continued to provide clinical benefits
compared to a bare metal stent in the E-SIRIUS Trial out to five years of
follow-up with no differences in safety.

At five-year follow-up, the patients in the CYPHER(R) Stent
arm of the study continued to be significantly less likely than the patients
in the bare metal stent arm to need another procedure in the same arterial
area (TLR or target lesion revascularization). In addition, the investigators
found similar rates of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and mortality
between the CYPHER(R) Stent and the bare metal stent, as well as no
significant difference between their rates of stent thrombosis (blood clots).

"The five-year results of the E-SIRIUS Trial increase our
knowledge and understanding of the long-term clinical benefits of the
CYPHER(R) Stent for patients with coronary artery disease," said Erik
JÞrgensen, M.D., from The Heart Centre, University Hospital Rigshospitalet,
Copenhagen, Denmark, the investigator who presented the results at the ESC
Congress. "It is also important to note that at five years, the long-term
safety of the CYPHER(R) Stent was comparable to that of the bare metal stent
arm of this study, and this reinforces the existing body of evidence
supporting the long-term safety and efficacy of the CYPHER(R) Stent."

The five-year results demonstrated that 5.1 percent of the
patients in the CYPHER(R) Stent arm underwent another procedure in the same
arterial area, compared to 20.9 percent of the patients in the bare metal
stent arm of the study. This means that a patient in whom a CYPHER(R) Stent
was implanted in this study was nearly 76 percent less likely to require a
second procedure in the same arterial area within five years than a patient
who was implanted a bare metal stent (p <0.001).

The study also showed both treatment arms to yield similarly
low rates of mortality and myocardial infarction. The mortality rates were
8.6 percent for the CYPHER(R) Stent and 7.9 percent for the bare metal stent
(p=0.850), the Q-wave myocardial infarction rate for each treatment arm was
1.1 percent (p=1.00) and the non-Q-wave myocardial infarction rates were 7.4
percent for the CYPHER(R) Stent and 5.1 percent for the bare metal stent
(p=0.388).

Also importantly, the study did not find a significant
difference in the rates of stent thrombosis between the CYPHER(R) Stent and
the bare metal stent, regardless of whether protocol or Academic Research
Consortium (ARC) definitions were employed. When the protocol definitions
were used, the rates of acute and subacute stent thrombosis were 0.0 percent
for the bare metal stent and 1.1 percent for the CYPHER(R) Stent (p=0.25).
The late stent thrombosis rates were 0.0 percent for the bare metal stent and
1.7 percent for the CYPHER(R) Stent (p=0.12). The definite/probable ARC
definition identified a stent thrombosis rate of 4.2 percent for the
CYPHER(R) Stent versus 1.7 percent for the bare metal stent (p=0.199). The
definite/probable/possible ARC definition yielded a stent thrombosis rate of
6.5 percent for the CYPHER(R) Stent versus 3.5 percent for the bare metal
stent (p=0.216). While there were numeric differences in the timing of such
events between the CYPHER(R) Stent and the bare metal stent, at no point
throughout the five-year period were the differences statistically
significant.

"The results presented today reaffirm the long-term clinical
benefits of the CYPHER(R) Stent compared to bare metal stents," said
Hans-Peter Stoll, M.D., Director of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs for
Cordis in Europe, the Middle East and Africa "As previously announced, Cordis
is expanding the E-SIRIUS Trial to eight years of follow-up to provide
physicians with longer term data about the CYPHER(R) Stent that will assist
them in making informed treatment decisions."

The E-SIRIUS trial is a double blind, multi-center,
controlled, randomized trial designed to compare restenosis (re-blockage)
rates between the CYPHER(R) Stent and a bare metal stent. It involved 352
patients from 35 European clinical centres. Patients enrolled in the study
were considered to be at a moderate to high clinical risk for restenosis due
to a previous heart attack or smoking.

The eight and nine-month results of the E-SIRIUS Trial were
published in Lancet in October 2003. Cordis Corporation funded the E-SIRIUS
Trial.

About the CYPHER(R) Stent

The CYPHER(R) Stent has been chosen by cardiologists worldwide
to treat approximately three million patients with coronary artery disease.
The safety and efficacy of the device is supported by a robust clinical trial
program that includes more than 70 studies that examine the performance of
the CYPHER(R) Stent in a broad range of patients.

Developed and manufactured by Cordis Corporation, the CYPHER(R) Stent is
currently available in more than 80 countries and has the broadest clinical
experience and longest-term clinical follow-up of any drug-eluting stent. The
next version of sirolimus-eluting stent, the CYPHER SELECT(TM)
Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent, was launched in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin
America and Canada in 2003. The CYPHER SELECT(TM) Plus Stent, the third
version of a sirolimus-eluting coronary stent, received CE Mark in 2006

About Cordis Corporation

Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company, is a worldwide leader in
the development and manufacture of interventional vascular technology.
Through the company's innovation, research and development, Cordis partners
with interventional cardiologists worldwide to treat millions of patients who
suffer from vascular disease.

(This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as
defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying
assumptions prove inaccurate or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize,
actual results could vary materially from Cordis' expectations and
projections. Risks and uncertainties include general industry conditions and
competition; economic conditions, such as interest rate and currency exchange
rate fluctuations; technological advances and patents attained by
competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including
obtaining regulatory approvals; domestic and foreign health care reforms and
governmental laws and regulations; and trends toward health care cost
containment. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and
other factors can be found in Exhibit 99 of Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006. Copies of this Form
10-K, as well as subsequent filings, are available online at www.sec.gov,
www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. Cordis does not undertake
to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or
future events or developments.)

(i) Cordis Corporation has entered into an exclusive worldwide license 
with Wyeth for the localized delivery of sirolimus in certain fields of use,
including delivery via vascular stenting. Sirolimus, the active drug released
for the stent, is marketed by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth,
under the name Rapamune(R). Rapamune is a trademark of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.