Boston Scientific Looks to Next-Generation DES with Labcoat Deal

Article preview reprinted from IN VIVO - January 2009

Find out how Boston Scientific's unique two-drug strategy has propelled the company to a leadership position in drug-eluting stents with, according to some estimates, more than 50% of the market.

Boston Scientific Looks to Next-Generation DES with Labcoat Deal

Article preview reprinted from IN VIVO - January 2009

Boston Scientific Corp.'s unique two-drug strategy has propelled the company to a leadership position in drug-eluting stents (DES) with, according to some estimates, more than 50% of the market. Yet the company is not relying on the current configurations of or the current manufacturing approaches for its Taxus (using paclitaxel) and Promus (which employs everolimus) stents to sustain its position on top of this highly competitive product area. With its acquisition this month of Galway, Ireland-based Labcoat Ltd. (terms of which were not disclosed), BSC is laying the groundwork for technology that may well define its next generation of drug-eluting stents.

Despite all of the success that DES have had in reducing restenosis, the story that has had the most dramatic impact on this market over the last couple of years has been the risk of late stent thrombosis, albeit small (averaging around 0.5%). The result has been an estimated 30% decrease in overall DES adoption from its high of nearly 90%, a decline that the market is only beginning to reverse. Research has linked late thrombosis to the cessation of dual anti-platelet therapy and to delayed or incomplete healing, which means the stent struts are not being quickly or thoroughly covered by endothelial cells. The late or incomplete endothelialization may be the result of the anti-restenotic drugs themselves or the polymers that are used to bind the drug to the stent to help regulate release kinetics.

In either case, the goal in the field is to try to reduce the need for dual anti-platelet therapy, which is not only a burden to the patient but also a financial burden to the health care system in general, while also increasing the thrombosis risk that these drugs are designed to prevent. To achieve those ends, companies are endeavoring to reduce both the amount of drug and polymer on drug-eluting stents, so that ideally the implant would more closely resemble a bare-metal stent.

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Companies mentioned in this article:

Boston Scientific Corp.

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Harvard University

Harvard Medical School

Johnson & Johnson

Conor Medsystems LLC

Cordis Corp.

Labcoat Ltd.

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