Drug-eluting stents market led by Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific

The global drug-eluting stents market has been forecast to hit a market value of US$6,278 million by 2015, with the industry being predominantly driven by the increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases.

A drug-eluting stent (DES) is a peripheral or coronary stent (a scaffold) placed into narrowed, diseased peripheral or coronary arteries that slowly release a drug to block cell proliferation. This prevents fibrosis that, together with clots (thrombus), could otherwise block the stented artery, a process called restenosis. The stent is usually placed within the peripheral or coronary artery by an interventional cardiologist or interventional radiologist during an angioplasty procedure.

Like all invasive medical procedures, implanting stents in the coronary arteries carries risk. For the newer drug-eluting stents, very-long-term results are not yet available; however, five-years after implantation sirolimus-eluting stents remained superior to bare-metal stents. Risks associated with cardiac catheterisation procedures include bleeding, allergic reaction to the X-ray contrast agents used to visualise the coronary arteries, and myocardial infarction.

Shortly after the first drug-eluting stent was approved in the US in 2003, the technology quickly reached high penetration, approximately 50% in the coronary stent market. The high adoption rate by interventional cardiologists was due to the encouraging results of lower rates of restenosis despite a lack of long-term safety and efficacy data. By 2006, over 80% of stents used by cardiologists were drug-eluting stents.

In 2007, the COURAGE trial showed PCI procedures and stents were no better than optimal medical therapy at preventing death or myocardial infarction in people with stable coronary artery disease. The result of the COURAGE trial raised questions over long-term benefits of and the market has remained flat ever since.

Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp came out as the big players in the US drug-eluting stent market, together staking claim to more than half of all DES revenues. In 2010, Boston Scientific reported $1.5 billion in DES sales and held a 33% market share in the US, lead by its Taxus and Promus stents.

For more information on the drug-eluting stents market, see the latest research: Drug-Eluting Stents Market

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