The chief executive of Brea-based medical testing equipment maker Beckman Coulter Inc. has abruptly stepped down.
Scott Garrett, who joined Beckman in 2002 as head of the dominant business unit and became chief executive in 2005, stepped down effective Monday.
Garrett is staying on as an employee through Jan. 15 to help with a transition.
The move comes as Beckman, which makes machines and chemicals used by hospitals, labs and researchers, deals with a costly recall of a test used to detect heart attacks.
The recall has prompted a big downward revision in Beckman’s 2010 profit forecast and driven a 30% drop this year in Beckman’s shares, which had a recent market value of $3.2 billion.
J. Robert “Bob” Hurley, Beckman’s senior vice president of human resources and chairman of Beckman Coulter Japan, was named interim chief executive. He’s set to lead a search for a permanent chief executive.
Hurley (no relation to Bob Hurley, founder of Nike Inc.’s Costa Mesa-based Hurley International LLC), has been with Beckman since 2005.
The retired U.S. Army captain previously was with Baxter International Inc.
Hurley played a leading role in Beckman’s $800 million acquisition last year of Olympus Corp.’s diagnostics business.
Glenn S. Schafer, Beckman’s lead independent director, was appointed chairman, a seat previously held by Garrett.
In March, Beckman recalled a test that detects a protein in blood after a heart attack after Food and Drug Administration regulators said the company made unapproved changes to it.
The changes resulted in skewed, higher readings.
Beckman hasn’t said what changes were made to the test.
The company is working toward having its troponin test back in use with its machines by next summer and is undergoing testing on the reworked test.
The test is a small part of Beckman’s sales, making up $60 million of its $3.3 billion in sales last year. But the recall is seen as having a big impact on profits this year.
In July, Beckman cut its 2010 profit forecast to a range of $278.3 million to $285.4 million from an earlier projection of $307 million to $321 million.
The company’s revenue forecast went from $3.75 billion to $3.85 billion to $3.65 billion to $3.7 billion.
