New Stent from Abbott Labs and Boston Sci Gets FDA OK

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given its OK to Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp. for a smaller stent to help patients with narrower blood vessels.

The drug-coated stent, used to prop open clogged arteries, was approved for use in vessels as small as 2.25 millimeters in diameter, or less than one-tenth of an inch, according to Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific. Abbott, based in Abbott Park, Ill., makes the stent and will sell it as Xience Nano, while Boston Scientific will market its version as Promus.

About 10 percent of patients who need artery-clearing angioplasty procedures have vessels smaller than 2.5 millimeters, according to the companies. The smaller device will help offset some of the financial pressure from declining sales for the devices, said John Thomas, Abbott’s vice-president for investor relations, in a conference call last month.

Boston Scientific was the leading seller of drug-coated stents last year, generating $1.54 billion in revenue, while Abbott, was second with $1.34 billion, according to a March 25 note to investors from Larry Biegelsen, a Wells Fargo & Co. analyst in New York.

Abbott receives 40 percent of Boston Scientific’s profits on the sale of Promus in an agreement that runs until June 2012.