Even as stent manufacturers are bumping into each other in Europe vying for business, Boston Scientific ($BSX) is bringing yet another entry into the competition: The Promus Premier. The everolimus-eluting platinum chromium coronary stent system won a CE mark to treat coronary artery disease, and the product is now officially for sale, the company explains.
Boston Scientific already has a number of international competitors, including Medtronic ($MDT), market leader Abbott ($ABT), Biotronik in Germany, Switzerland's Biosensors International, and smaller upstarts such as France's Stentys, Qvanteq (also in Switzerland) and many others. But Boston Scientific has focused aggressively, in part, on freshening up its stent line in order to maintain competitive relevance in Europe, the U.S. and other markets around the world. The company has struggled to right itself financially, and new entries into the marketplace certainly won't hurt.
Europe is a first step, however. Promus Premier isn't approved for sale yet in the U.S. or Japan, the company notes.
In this case, Boston Scientific promotes the Promus Premier as having "next-generation durable polymer drug-eluting stent technology." Other standouts compared to rivals: A stent built from platinum and chromium, and a fluorinated co-polymer coating along with an everolimus drug coating. Additionally, Promus Premier proved itself as having superior clinical outcomes in multiple randomized clinical trials focused on long-term safety and efficacy. Those trials involved comparisons with Abbott's Xience V cobalt chromium everolimus-eluting stent, and Boston Scientific touted the fact that its product came out on top in those trials 12 to 24 months after the initial procedure.
If you can't compete on product alone, Boston Scientific is also trying to cover the size game. Promus Premier will be marketed in 47 different sizes. After all, the world needs options, right?
- read the release
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