Abbott: Xience V stent could become choice treatment in Europe

Abbott’s Xience V stent could become the preferred treatment for coronary artery disease in Europe, according to one expert.

The claim comes as Abbott launches the stent in the majority of European countries with immediate effect.

The Xience V stent, inherited during Abbott’s acquisition of Guidant’s vascular business, has shown statistically significant superiority in angiographic in-stent loss at six months over its Boston Scientific rival, the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting stent, the company states.

Dr Eulogio Garcia Fernandez from the Gregorio Maranon University General Hospital in Madrid, remarked: “The Xience V drug-eluting stent system offers an excellent combination of technologies to deliver an advanced treatment for patients with coronary artery disease.”

He added that its “highly deliverable” Multi-Link Vision technology, biotechnology coating and its ability to elute everolimus could make the Xience V stent “a preferred treatment of choice for coronary artery disease in Europe”.

Abbott will discontinue its ZoMaxx stent after concluding that the Xience V stent is a “significantly better product”.

Abbott and Boston Scientific are currently the subject of a $5.5 billion (2.9 billion pounds) lawsuit from Johnson & Johnson, concerning the way in which Abbott and Boston Scientific conducted their takeover of Guidant, a company that Johnson & Johnson also coveted.

Boston Scientific and Abbot have dismissed the claims as being without merit.