A Medical Device Daily

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrated that the Xience V everolimus eluting coronary stent system from Abbott Vascular (Santa Clara, California), used in patients with coronary artery disease resulted in a significant 50% reduction in vessel renarrowing (in-segment late loss) at eight months, non-inferior rates of target vessel failure at nine months, and an observed 42% reduction in major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at one year compared to the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent system.

The SPIRIT III study is designed to evaluate the safety/efficacy of the Xience V stent system compared to the Taxus drug-eluting stent system.

"SPIRIT III is the first large-scale clinical trial to show that patients have a lower risk of experiencing a heart attack, cardiac death or re-treatment when treated with a new stent, Xience V, compared to the most widely used drug eluting stent Taxus," said Gregg Stone, MD, of the Columbia University Medical Center (New York) and principal investigator of the SPIRIT III clinical trial.

"With a significant reduction in angiographic in-segment late loss, non-inferiority in target vessel failure and a clinical advantage in the composite rate of MACE compared to Taxus, Xience V represents an important advance in improving the lives of patients with coronary artery disease."

Abbott Vascular, a division of Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illiniois), is focused on the treatment of vascular disease.