Abbott presents stent trial data

Abbott Laboratories has announced that initial data from its study into its fully bio-absorbable drug-eluting stents reveals that the patients involved in the first 30 days of the trial have not experienced heart attacks or stent thrombosis.

Presenting its findings at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium, Abbott said that patients who received a bio-absorbable everolimus-eluting stent showed no signs of major adverse cardiac events (Mace).

The drug-eluting stent is made of polylactic acid which is designed to be absorbed and metabolised by the coronary artery to “leave a healed natural vessel behind”.

Commenting on the study, John Ormiston of Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand and co-principle investigator of the study, said: “We are highly encouraged by these initial results from the Absorb trial.

“We are eager to explore Abbott’s bio-absorbable technology as a potential clinical option for the treatment of coronary artery disease.”

The trial is designed to include 60 patients in Belgium, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Poland and the Netherlands and will investigate the stent thrombosis rate and Mace after 30, 180 and 270 days.

Abbott recently reported that its third quarter results demonstrated worldwide sales of $5.6 billion (2.98 billion pounds), representing a 3.5 per cent increase.