ATLANTA—More research is needed on the relative costs and benefits of using drug-eluting stents (DES) versus bare-metal stents (BMS) in patients who have experienced a STEMI, according to the results based on the DEDICATION trial presented Tuesday at the ACC.10 conference. Slides»
Boston Scientific announced the completion of patient enrollment in the small vessel and long lesion trials of its PLATINUM clinical program during the American College of Cardiology (ACC) conference in Atlanta this week. The trials are designed to compare the platinum chromium Promus Element everolimus-eluting stent to matched historical control groups of patients treated with the Taxus Express paclitaxel-eluting stent.
Boston Scientific Corporation announced today that it has stopped shipment and is retrieving field inventory of all its implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds).
Two companies that make surgical ablation devices have settled whistleblower lawsuits with the government that alleged they marketed the devices for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), which is not an FDA-approved indication, according to a report in the March 11 Wall Street Journal.
Written by Justine Cadet
As clinical trial data have shifted toward favoring second-generation drug-eluting stents (DES), the market has trended in a similar direction. In addition, the overall positive results with most DES have emboldened physicians to use them for more complex disease states, including left main disease—to the dismay and excitement of many.
Boston Scientific has financial results for the fourth quarter and full year, which ended Dec. 31, 2009, indicating a reduction in net losses for both.
Boston Scientific has rebutted a case study, published Feb. 13 in Heart Rhythm, which claimed there was inappropriate shock from an uncommon cause of non-physiologic noise during a subcutaneously implantation of the company’s Cognis N119 cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D).
Boston Scientific presented new versions of its ablation and diagnostic catheters at the 15th annual Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium last week.
Boston Scientific's Promus and Abbott's Xience V, two everolimus-eluting coronary stent systems used to treat coronary artery disease, have received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for marketing and distribution rights throughout Japan.
While implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) have been known to reduce mortality rates in patients, an analysis of four manufactured devices published in the December edition of the Heart Rhythm Journal found that upgrades to these devices are needed in order to further improve patient care.
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Boston Scientific has a new cardiac rhythm and vascular (CRV) business unit, which is the combination of its cardiovascular and cardiac rhythm management divisions. The Natick, Mass.-based company highlighted the change at the recent American College of Cardiology (ACC) conference in Atlanta.
Written by Justine Cadet
ATLANTA—At one-year in the SPIRIT IV trial, the use of Abbott’s Xience V stent was an “economically dominant strategy” compared with Boston Scientific’s Taxus stent with improved clinical outcomes and lower overall medical costs, according to the interim results of an analysis presented Saturday during CRF's Optimizing PCI Outcomes Symposium, which ran concurrent to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) conference. Slides»
The FDA has approved Boston Scientific's Express LD, a premounted, balloon-expandable stent specifically for use in iliac arteries. The company said it plans to launch the product immediately in the U.S.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged Guidant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boston Scientific, with covering-up device failure problems associated with its Ventak Prizm 2 DR and Contak Renewal implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD).
Boston Scientific is not closing international headquarters in Paris and Tokyo, as we incorrectly reported last week. It is eliminating its Natick, Mass.-based International headquarters. The corrected article can be read here. We apologize for any confusion.
Boston Scientific has begun to restructure its leadership team and modify the organization--including significant changes to its international headquarters in Natick, Mass.--and initiated layoffs of 8 to 10 percent of its non-direct labor base.
Boston Scientific has settled three patent disputes with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for $1.73 billion.
A budding whistleblower suit made public Monday exposed allegations that Boston Scientific, Abbott Laboratories and Cordis fraudulently marketed and promoted biliary stents for vascular use—an action not approved by the FDA.
The everolimus-eluting stent is better than the second-generation paclitaxel-eluting stent (Taxus Liberte, Boston Scientific) in unselected patients undergoing PCI in terms of safety and efficacy, concluded the COMPARE trial that was published Jan. 7 in Lancet. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that paclitaxel-eluting stents should no longer be used in everyday clinical practice.
Orlando, Fla.—The addition of clopidogrel to aspirin did not lead to a significant reduction in vein graft intimal hyperplasia during the first year after CABG, according to the CASCADE trial presented Monday during the late-breaking clinical trials session at the 2009 American Heart Association conference.
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Middle age introduces itself in many ways; one is atrial fibrillation (AF). My onset of AF seems to have coincided with a mountain bike accident in the woods of North Carolina that resulted in some cracked ribs.
The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).