Medtronic’s Resolute DES proves strong at 2 years
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) touted new 2-year results demonstrating the safety and efficacy of its Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stent at this year’s American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago this week.

The stent proved a "powerful and persistent treatment" for patients with a variety of patients, including those with diabetes in addition to coronary artery disease, according to a press release.

The news didn’t stir much affection from Wall Street today, where MDT shares were down 1% to $39.57 as of about 4:45 p.m. today, but shares closed 2.6% higher at $40 Monday following the presentation in Chicago.*

"What’s particularly striking about the two-year outcomes from the Resolute clinical program is the device’s consistently strong performance and low event rates in such a wide variety and high number of patients," Dr. Laura Mauri, who presented the data at the ACC conference, said in prepared remarks. "The Resolute DES yields excellent outcomes in patients with and without diabetes mellitus, and that’s a factor of significant clinical relevance given the large number of diabetes patients that undergo percutaneous coronary intervention each year. Its safety and efficacy data at two years of patient follow-up continue to impress."

Minneapolis, Minn.-based Medtronic became the 1st med-tech maker to win clearance for a U.S. heart stent for diabetics when it won an FDA nod for the Resolute device last month. Read more

 No need for DAPT therapy 3 months after PCI with Medtronic’s Endeavor
Certain low-risk patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with Medtronic’s Endeavor stent were able to forgo dual antiplatelet therapy after 3 months, according to results from the med-tech titan’s Reset trial.

The study builds on prior results finding that outcomes for patients with the Endeavor device did just as well with only 6 months of therapy as those with other drug-eluting stents who underwent DAPT therapy for a full year, TheHeart.org reported. Read more

 Boston Scientific touts new Promus Element over original Promus
Results from a 2-year follow-up of Boston Scientific’s (NYSE:BSX) pivotal Platinum workhorse trial found that the Natick, Mass.-based med-tech titan’s next-generation Promus Element resulted in lower rates of target lesion failure when compared to the original Promus stent, a private-label version of Abbott’s (NYSE:ABT) Xience V.

The private-label deal ended in Europe in 2009, but a similar arrangement in the U.S. is slated to go until mid-2012. Read more

 Boston Scientific looks forward to new DES study of platinum-chromium devices
In a separate announcement, Boston Scientific said it’s looking forward to study results from a new clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of platinum-chromium drug-eluting stents by comparing its Promus Element drug-eluting stent to its Omega bare-metal stent.

Drug-eluting stents have landed some significant blows against their bare-metal forebears, most recently in the largest meta-analysis to date on the 2 types of devices, which also found hat rates of stent thrombosis were "significantly lower" with cobalt-chromium everolimus-eluting stents like the Xience V and Promus devices, when compared with other alloy-drug combinations.  Read more

 OrbusNeich unveils 3-year results proving Genous safe and effective in STEMI patients
OrbusNeich unveiled the results of a 3-year trial finding no incidence of very late stent thrombosis for its Genous stent for patient with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.  Read more

*Updated March 28, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. to reflect the postive gains in MDT’s share value on Monday, March 26, after the Resolute data was presented.