Updated: March 15, 2012 9:30 a.m.

MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Stable heart disease patients were no better off with a stent with less-costly drug therapy in a recent study comparing the 2 treatments. *

Implanting a stent to prop open blocked arteries represents a more costly alternative that failed to improve outcomes in stable patients, according to researchers from the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York.

"There was no benefit of stenting as far as reducing death, heart attack, repeat procedures and even reducing symptomatic angina," investigator Dr. David Brown told Today Online.

House Dems. call for more oversight of medical devices

House Democrats introduced a bill this month granting the FDA the power to reject devices with designs that predicate from products that were recalled, Bloomberg reported.

Supreme Court keeps Kagan amid calls for recusal

The Supreme Court again denied calls for recusal of Justice Elena Kagan in the legal challenge against President Barack Obama’s health care laws, Law360.com (paid) reported.

FDA grants Jarvik Heart trials of destination therapy

Jarvik Heart won FDA approval to begin clinical trials of its Jarvik 2000 intraventricular heart assist device as a destination therapy for patients who are not candidates for heart transplant, according to a press release.

U.S. and European governments put the squeeze on bribes paid by companies overseas

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K.’s Bribery Act represent renewed vigor among governments to keep an eye on and put a stop to improper payments drug and device companies might make overseas, according to a Reuters special report.

*Correction, March 15, 2012: This article originally referred to the study’s patient population as heart attack patients, rather than stable heart disease patients.

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