Abbott Laboratories’ (NYSE:ABT) enrolled the first patient in its global Excel trial, the largest clinical study to date examining surgical and stenting outcomes in patients with unprotected left main disease.
Abbott will compare its Xience Prime and Xience V everolimus-eluting stents against coronary artery bypass grafting in a multi-center, randomized prospective trial spanning more than 2,6000 patients and up to 165 medical centers in 18 countries.
Left main disease is a high-risk subset of coronary artery disease where a lesion blocks the left main artery in the heart. The standard treatment involves a surgical bypass and stenting is generally reserved for patients who are too sick to undergo surgery but are "protected" by a previous bypass graft.
"With the advancement of technology and expertise, coronary stenting might have potential as an alternative to coronary bypass surgery for select patients with left main disease," principal investigator Dr. Joseph Sabik said in prepared remarks.
The first U.S. patient was enrolled at Turkey Creek Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn.
Abbott’s Xience drug-eluting stents got a leg up over competing stents by Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) when researchers found that an everolimus coating is better than stents coated in other drugs at reducing thrombosis risk without increasing the risk of target vessel revascularization or heart attack
Boston Scientific’s Taxus stents are coated in paclitaxel.
Abbott’s Xience V bested Boston Scientific’s Taxus in another recent study showing that it reduced the risks for death, heart attack, stent thrombosis and recurrent ischemia in nondiabetic patients, compared to Taxus. The latest study adds to a pile of Abbott releases touting Xience V’s merits over Taxus.
Luckily for BSX, it’s still the top dog in the $4.6 billion U.S. DES market, posting $1.5 billion in sales and a 33 percent market share in the U.S. in 2010; Abbott followed in second place with $1.4 billion and a 31 percent share. And Boston Scientific has its own everolimus-eluting stent, the Promus, which won FDA clearance in May.
