ANALYSTS PREDICT ACC WILL INFLAME STENT WOES

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) annual meeting next week will generate more controversy about the use of drug-eluting stents (DESs), a report from RBC Capital Markets says.

"We will be treated to a rehash of all the negative data on late-stent thrombosis" in the first-generation DES systems -- Boston Scientific's Taxus and Johnson & Johnson's Cypher -- said the report. "We expect this to be especially harmful in the near-term outlook for [Boston Scientific], which derives about 30 percent of its total revenues from Taxus."

The analysts also wrote they expect "a lot of bad press" for the current DES platforms to come out of the conference and noted that a rebound in DES penetration is not likely to happen soon.

The report added that the COURAGE trial comparing interventional procedures, such as stenting, with drug therapy alone will probably generate more uncertainties about the role of DESs. It said Abbot Laboratories' Xience stent is "likely to steal the show," with data comparing it with the Taxus.