Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) and St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) released details on a pair of clinical trials, one for implantable cardiac defibrillators and another for transcatheter aortic valves.
The scientists conducting the BSX-funded study, who published their work in the journal Circulation, found that one life is saved for every eight patients who receive an ICD and that there is a 34 percent "relative reduction in the risk of death" for ICD patients at eight years.
The Natick, Mass.-based medical device giant designed the Madit II study to examine whether ICDs improve survival compared to drug therapy alone in heart attack survivors with moderate impairment of the left ventricle, according to the company.
For its part, BSX’s rival in St. Paul, Minn., announced the doctors it’s selected to conduct a clinical trial for its transcatheter aortic valve.
Dr. Raj Makkar will join Dr. Gregory Fontana, who presented his research on transcatheter aortic valve implantation at the 2010 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference last week, in leading the company’s TAVI trial.
The Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute cardiologists “have been extensively involved in previous research efforts with transcatheter aortic valve implantation and are leading authorities for the technologies. We believe this is an important milestone for our program," St. Jude cardiovascular division president Frank Callaghan said in prepared remarks.
St. Jude said it expects the European clinical trial for the valve to begin in 2011.
