Boston Scientific (BSX: sentiment, chart, options) shares have recently been smacked with selling pressure, as co-founders Peter Nicholas and John Abele unload their stock to meet margin calls. In a health-care conference with Piper Jaffray today, President and CEO James Tobin confessed that he doesn't know when the forced selling will end. "I don't know, is the short answer," he said, "...but it can't go on forever."

Chief Financial Officer Samuel Leno acknowledged that the situation is an unpleasant one for shareholders, observing, "I know it's frustrating. It's frustrating for all of us." However, he added that "it is really not an issue that the company has any control over, nor can we do anything about it."

Leno also stated today that BSX currently has no plans to repurchase its shares on the open market. The CFO said, "We don't know what is going to happen in the debt markets, and until we do, we are going to take a very conservative approach." Rather than buying back stock, Boston Scientific is preserving its cash to pay back debts that mature in 2010 and 2011.

Today, the selling pressure on BSX seems to have eased somewhat. The shares are nearly 3% higher as we head toward midday, although they haven't mustered enough momentum to climb atop their 10-day moving average. As the stock advances, traders are adding new call positions the equity's out-of-the-money December 7.50 call has seen 2,010 contracts change hands on open interest of 1,039.