The forecast clears for drug eluding stents.

Implications: This is a general commentary regarding coronary stent thrombosis and highlights the difficulties which Medtronic (Endeavor), Abbott (Xience V and Conor Medsystem (CoStar) may soon face with FDA approval of their new stents which are currently unavailable in the US. It also highlights that drug-coated stent sales have decreased while bare metal stents sales have accelerated.

Analysis: This is a very hot topic in cardiovascular medicine and at a recent meeting the major topic was late stent thrombosis and its implications. The general conclusion was to reduce the use of drug-eluding stents, especially those utilizing Paclitaxel.