Positive Data on Abbott's XIENCE V

Yesterday, Abbott (ABT - Analyst Report) presented positive long-term data on the XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System from the pivotal SPIRIT III study conducted in the U.S.

Results showed that clinical advantages associated with the use of XIENCE V continued to increase compared to Boston Scientific's (BSX - Analyst Report) Taxus Express2 Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System.

At three years, XIENCE V demonstrated a reduction in the risk of major adverse cardiac events (9.1% for XIENCE V compared to 15.7% for Taxus). XIENCE V also demonstrated a reduction in the risk of Target Lesion Failure (8.3% for XIENCE V versus 14.4% for Taxus), a reduction in the risk of Target Vessel Failure (13.5% for XIENCE V compared to 19.2% for Taxus) and a reduction in the risk of heart attacks (3.7% for XIENCE V compared to 6.3% for Taxus).

These results were presented at the 2009 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in San Francisco. The new data should support further uptake of the product, which has helped Abbott become a major player in the drug-eluting stent (DES) market.

XIENCE V has been taking significant domestic and international share from Taxus, Medtronic's (MDT - Analyst Report) Endeavor, and Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ - Analyst Report) Cypher (sirolimus-eluting system) drug-eluting stents.

Abbott is currently working on a next-generation drug-coated stent called XIENCE PRIME. PRIME is already available in Europe and other countries throughout Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and is currently in a large scale clinical program called SPIRIT PRIME in the U.S. If approved, PRIME could hit the U.S. market in the first half of 2012.

Abbott's Vascular Products segment should continue posting robust growth mainly due to the strong performance of XIENCE V. We have a Neutral rating on Abbott.

Read the full analyst report on ABT

Read the full analyst report on BSX

Read the full analyst report on MDT

Read the full analyst report on JNJ