TCT: Boston Scientific rides wave of Liberte family of stents
Since the FDA approved the Taxus Liberte Atom 2.25 mm paclitaxel-eluting stent in May, Boston Scientific has gained about 8 percent of the market, according to Jeff Mirvis, vice president of marketing. The company highlighted the Taxus Liberte family of stents, as well as next-generation stents, at the 21st annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

The Taxus Atom has thinner struts than the previous generation Taxus Express stent, which aids in deliverability and offers improved outcomes, according to the company. The smaller stent helps treat patients that previously would have received a bare-metal stent.

In July, the FDA approved the Taxus Liberte Long stent, a 38 mm paclitaxel-eluting stent, and it has been shown that using one stent instead of two stents improves outcomes, Boston Scientific reported.

Mark Turco, MD, director of the Center for Cardiac & Vascular Research at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland, and colleagues have shown that the Liberte long stent significantly reduced MI when compared to the Taxus Express stent, “making it an attractive option for interventional cardiologists faced with long, challenging lesions.”

The price point of the long stent is significantly less than two stents and in most cases less than one and a half, Mirvis said.

Also, Boston Scientific is about to launch two news stents in Europe: Taxus Element, a paclitaxel-eluting stent, and the Promus Element, an everolimus-eluting stent. Both stents are made from platinum chromium, a next-generation alloy that allows for better flexibility, radial strength, visibility and deliverability, Mirvis said. The company is expecting to receive CE Mark by the end of the year.

The Natick, Mass.-based company expects to launch the Taxus Element in the U.S. in 2011, and the Promus Element in 2012. When the Promus is launched in the U.S., the financial agreement where Boston Scientific pays a percentage of profits to Abbott for the everolimus technology will end.

On the horizon is a bioerodible stent, with a lower profile polymer and drug. The stent is drug-eluting in the first couple of months when the patient needs it, and then turns into a bare-metal stent. The hypothesis, Mirvis said, is that the patient will have a shorter duration of dual-antiplatelet therapy.

The company just finished first in human use in Europe and will launch a pivotal trial soon.

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