J&J Says Sales of Drug Coated Stents Down
April 16th, 2008 joshua
Studies which discouraged the use of drug-eluting heart stents had some impact on their overall use in the first quarter of 2008.
Last year’s dust-up over the effectiveness and safety of the controversial medical devices, combined with a fresh competitor, caused Johnson & Johnson’s sales of its heart stent to drop as compared to the first quarter 2007.
J&J’s market share in the heart stent industry dropped to 43 percent. Its stent was first on the market in the U.S., and has since absorbed competition from Medtronic most recently, and previously, Boston Scientific. But in a report on CNN.com, research shows the effect of competition on the sales of stents is more likely due to the device’s poor performance rate.
Drug-eluting stents are proving to lead to future cardiac events in some patients as they experience clots at the site of the stent, while it proves to unclog an artery.
Sales of the J&J stent reached $170 million in the first quarter of 2008, down 28 percent from a year ago.












