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News Release

Medtronic Statement on Recent Wall Street Journal Article

MINNEAPOLIS – September 25, 2008 – In response to The Wall Street Journal article of September 25, 2008, Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), today issued the following statement:

Medtronic regrets that The Wall Street Journal chose to publish allegations the paper claims are part of a qui tam lawsuit involving Medtronic’s Spinal business, which was settled in federal court in July 2006. We cannot discuss the allegations that remain under seal by court order because we abide by and respect the court’s sealing order.

The allegations of inappropriate business practices described in the article are said to have occurred years ago. When Medtronic learned of the qui tam investigation involving its Spinal business, the company took it extremely seriously and cooperated fully with the Department of Justice. Behaviors like those described in the article are inconsistent with Medtronic’s ethical standards.

Since the qui tam lawsuit, the company has put more rigorous systems and processes in place to assure alignment with these standards, identify any break from standards, and address behavior that is in violation.

Employees must follow rigorous compliance processes in connection with all arrangements with physicians, including consulting and service agreements and appropriate travel and entertainment. Medtronic’s policies prohibit inducements, including providing benefits to customers with an explicit or implicit requirement to use or purchase Medtronic products.

In addition, the various Medtronic business units have educational and training programs for their employees. Following the Medtronic Code of Conduct is mandatory: all employees must certify that they have read, understand and agree to abide by it. There are also clear review and disciplinary procedures in place, a confidential compliance and ethics hotline program, and auditing and monitoring efforts to ensure we comply with our standards.

In addition to these changes, Medtronic’s Spinal business unit also has established an electronic database to capture and manage arrangements between the business unit and its customers. Those transactions also are subject to an established set of internal controls and review processes by Medtronic senior management, its chief compliance officer, and an outside review organization. These measures will provide an additional level of compliance controls for Medtronic’s Spinal business and are required by a Corporate Integrity Agreement entered into as part of the qui tam settlement.

The company will continue to strive to assure ethical business practices and an appropriate, sustainable model for industry/physician collaboration that continues to drive innovation. Because these goals are so central to the ability of our company and our industry to steadily improve patient outcomes, we are committed to continuous improvement and will continue to take whatever actions are required, at any point in time, to remediate unacceptable conduct when it occurs, and to prevent it from occurring in the future.

Industry/Physician Collaboration and Transparency Medtronic believes the relationship between industry and physicians is fundamental to device therapy innovation. Equally as important, physicians assist industry by providing valuable training and education on new device therapy procedures, which benefit patients. Because Medtronic understands there is a potential physician conflict of interest, these relationships must be appropriately managed and publicly transparent.

Medtronic helped draft the AdvaMed Code of Ethics in 2002-2003 and remains committed to industry-wide reform.

In addition, Medtronic supports the proposed legislation by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI), the Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2008, which aims to curb inappropriate relationships or conflicts of interests between industry and physicians.

In May 2008, Senator Grassley stated, “Medtronic is an industry leader, and the company’s leadership for reform in [reporting physician arrangements] is an important development in the debate.”

More information about Medtronic’s Business Conduct Standards and Code of Conduct can be found on the Company’s website at http://www.medtronic.com/corporate-governance/principles-and-ethics/code-of-conduct/index.htm.

About Medtronic

Medtronic, Inc. (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology – alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Medtronic’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 25, 2008. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.