Medtronic says its Endeavor drug-coated stent outperformed the Boston Scientific‘s Taxus stent in a three-year clinical trial. The study, however, compared an older generation of the Taxus stent.
The study results were announced at a cardiovascular conference today. They show the Endeavor is measurably safer than the Taxus, though the study found “no difference in efficacy” during the three years in which patients were followed. The trial involved 1,548 patients.
A Boston Scientific spokesman, Paul Donovan, said in an e-mail: “It’s important to keep in mind that the Boston Scientific stent used in the Endeavor 4 trial was the first-generation TAXUS Express stent, which has been replaced by the second-generation TAXUS Liberte stent.”
Meanwhile, Medtronic also released research data related to its Resolute stent, which showed 1.6 percent of patients required repeat procedures but none experienced blood clots within the stents.
