Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said it’s begun its Absorb III clinical trial to examine the Absorb drug-eluting bioresorbable stent.
Unlike a permanent metallic stent, the Absorb device is made of a naturally dissolvable material called polylactide, according to a press release.
The 2,250-patient trial will compare target lesion failure rates between Absord and Abbott’s market-leading Xience drug-eluting stent, which landed an FDA win earlier this month and won CE Mark approval for distribution in the European Union in August 2012.
"The Absorb III trial will provide important insight about the benefits of Absorb in U.S. patients with heart disease and will supplement the knowledge gained about this technology since the start of international clinical trials of Absorb in 2006," Abbott Vascular CMO Dr. Charles Simonton said in prepared remarks.
The company will also evaluate vasomotion of some patients, measuring whether natural motion returns to the vessel after using the Absorb device, according to the press release.
The news comes fressh off of the "new Abbott’s" split from its proprietary drugs business, now known as AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), shortly after board of directors signed off on the split last November.