Boston Scientific Taxus Liberte stent receives CE mark

Boston Scientific has announced that it has received a CE Mark for it Taxus Liberte long stent that enables doctors to treat longer coronary artery lesions – with the product being the longest available drug-eluting stent on the market.

The stent is 38 mm in length and aims to combine the flexibility of the Taxus Liberte range with the ability to treat longer lesions in arteries of a varying size. Previously, the treatment of longer lesions required the use of more than one overlapping stent, with attendant rises in cost and procedure times.

Following the receipt of this CE mark, the Taxus Liberte stent system is now available outside the US in lengths ranging from 2.25-5mm in diameter and 8-38 mm in length.

Jeff Goodman, president of Boston Scientific, said: “Long lesions can now be treated with one Taxus Liberte stent instead of two.”

He added that the widened range of stent sizes now sufficiently deals with the complex nature of coronary artery disease, with doctors able to choose the most appropriate stent length and width for each patient.

Last month, Boston Scientific announced its financial figures for the first quarter of the 2007 fiscal year, with the firm reporting lower-than-hoped drug-eluting stent sales as a result of “market dynamics.”