Boston Scientific Maintains Stent Market Share

Medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp. said it still holds just under half of the U.S. market for drug-coated stents.

The company said its Promus and Taxus stents, combined, made up 45% of the market during the third quarter. Stents are tiny metal-mesh scaffolds that prop open heart arteries after they have been cleared. The drug coatings are designed to keep scar tissue from growing over the metal and blocking blood flow.

Taxus is Boston Scientific’s best-selling product, with sales of $382 million in the second quarter.

The market share analysis is based on data from Millennium Research Group, which provides strategic information to the health care sector. Sales of drug-coated stents declined sharply over the last few years as research questioned the devices’ safety and effectiveness compared with older, bare-metal versions. More recent studies have shown the stents are both safe and effective — driving a slow sales recovery, and causing competition to heat up between medical device makers.

On Oct. 10, Boston Scientific said the FDA approved Taxus Liberte, the long-delayed follow-up to the drug-coated stent Taxus. That will add to competition on the market with rivals Medtronic Inc. and Abbott Laboratories, each of which have launched their own drug-coated stents.

SOURCE: The Boston Globe