Medtronic to Test Drug Coated Stents Against Rivals
May 14th, 2008 amy
Medtronic has announced it is planning a global study comparing its new drug coated stent Endeavor against Abbott’s drug coated stent Xience V. The study will enroll 2,300 patients, and hopes to look into several factors that lead to cardiac death, the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reported this week.
Medical device maker Medtronic recently implanted patients in Europe with the device as part of the trial. The global study will reportedly involve 2,300 patients, and hopes to look into several factors that lead to cardiac death.
Drug coated stents have been linked to posing a deadly risk to patients with histories of heart attacks. Research has shown a higher rate of deaths attributed to heart attacks from blood clots completely blocking blood flow to the heart in patients where drug coated stents were used. Many doctors have reverted back to using bare metal stents unless drug coated stents are the only option plausible for saving a patient’s life.
The Endeavor and Xience stents are touted to be the “next generation” in drug coated stents. However, the proof of benefit over risk has yet to be seen.
Medtronic is certainly no stranger to deadly medical devices. In the heart arena, Medtronic’s defective defibrillator leads have been responsible for at least five deaths and countless severe injuries where the wires linking the defibrillator to the heart has failed to produce a lifesaving shock or unnecessarily jolted heart patients — sometimes to death.
