Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) announced after the close today, in a decision we have been waiting on for what feels like forever, that the FDA has approved for the company to begin marketing its XIENCE drug-eluting coronary stent systems.
Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) will get to sell basically the same exact stent under a different name. Boston Scientific also has the old Taxus stent. Angiotech (NASDAQ: ANPI) is also Boston’s Taxus stent coating partner for its molecule.
As far as the others, this will get to compete with the Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) Endeavor stent system as well as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Cypher stent. Medtronic won the first Stent system approval in February after a 4-year hiatus. SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX) is the molecule partner over at J&J for the drug-eluting coatings for teh Cypher stent.
This is being viewed as a key win for Abbott Labs with shares up 1.6% at $55.10 in after-hours trading. The good news is that the dark clouds surrounding stents and drug-eluting stents is starting to lift. The bad news on the topic is that this is now a highly competitive sub-sector in coronary medical technology.
Jon Ogg
July 2, 2008