Medical devices giant Boston Scientific has agreed to mediation in its row with Israeli supplier Medinol over a secret Irish plant that replicated stents produced for the US company by Medinol.
However, it has denied reports in the Israeli media that it has offered nearly $1 billion (€777 million) to end the dispute.
"The two companies have agreed in recent days to the selection of a mediator but no negotiations have yet taken place," said Boston Scientific spokesman Paul Donovan.
He rubbished reports in Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that it had agreed a hefty settlement with the Israeli group, dismissing the figures as "neither justified nor realistic".
"We have had no discussions with Medinol for quite some time regarding settlement of our disputes and we have made no settlement offers of any kind or amount," Mr Donovan said.
The dispute arose over a secret operation based in Ireland to copy a Medinol machine used to produce the coronary stents - devices that hold open arteries after surgical procedures.
To do so, Boston Scientific set up an elaborate system of front companies to disguise what it was doing even from most of is own staff.
The operation, called "Project Independence", only emerged when US Department of Justice investigators visited the US group's Galway plant on a separate matter.
Boston Scientific, which employs more than 3,000 people at several plants in Ireland, acknowledges building the machine but says it was never used to produce any stents for sale.
Boston Scientific has become a medical devices industry leader in the production of drug-coated stents.
It said it had taken the steps it did to ensure supply in the event of any future production failure by the Israeli company.
It acknowledged that no such failure had occurred to date although the company said Medinol had several times threatened to withhold supply of its products which are a core element of Boston Scientific's devices.
Last December, a Manhattan judge threw out Boston Scientific's defence against a $1 billion-plus lawsuit from Medinol, describing its arguments as "tortuous" and "fallacious".
In an 84-page ruling, Judge Alvin K Hellerstein strongly rejected any justification for the secret operation.
He wrote: "Boston Scientific's argument is fallacious because it cannot first contract with a party of known limitations and then complain of just those limitations." At the time, Judge Hellerstein said the case could proceed to a jury to determine the level of damages Medinol should receive.
However, the two sides have since agreed to try to settle the issue through mediation.
Mr Donovan said the company would "respect the wishes of the mediator" by refraining from any comment or disclosure related to the negotiations as they progress.
