Abbott Laboratories’ dissolving stent “may truly become the next revolution,” John Capek, Abbott’s executive vice president of medical devices told Bloomberg.

In moves that Symmetry says will save $3.4 million annually, the company will close its Auburn, Maine, manufacturing plant and cut an unspecified number of its 2,500 worldwide employees.

Shares of Symmetry Medical Inc. fell 18 percent Monday after the maker of orthopedic implants and related instruments slashed its 2009 profit and revenue outlooks. Symmetry Medical shares fell $1.72 to $7.84 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.