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Clot study is good news for Medtronic stent
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Medtronic Incorporated's drug-coated Endeavor stent almost eliminated blood clots that have worried doctors about the devices in recent years, according to a study.
In the last three years of a four-year trial, 0.1 percent of patients developed a clot after they got Endeavor, a tiny mesh tube used to prop open clogged arteries. Patients using an older stent without the drug coating got clots at twice that rate, according to data released at the EuroPCR scientific conference in Barcelona, Spain.
The results, combined with other stent studies this week, should reassure doctors who shied from drug stents in the last two years, said Ian Meredith of Monash Medical Centre in Australia, the lead author. Fridley-based Medtronic is preparing to compete with Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corp. and Johnson & Johnson for the $5 billion-a-year global stent market.
"It's putting to bed the idea that the Endeavor ... stent is more risky or more dangerous or potentially more harmful than a bare-metal stent," Meredith said. "It's a testament to both the efficacy and safety of the Endeavor."
The new-generation stents, coated with drugs to prevent scarring in the artery, almost wiped out the bare-metal models in the United States in 2005. However, coated-stent sales plunged last year after studies suggested the coated versions might encourage fatal clots. More recent studies on stents including Endeavor and Abbott's Xience have shown no drop-off in safety.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of Endeavor for heart patients on Feb. 1.
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