Data backs use of J&J's Cypher stent

On the scales of stent safety, the evidence is piling up in favor of the previously discredited drug-coated models--Johnson & Johnson's Cypher in particular. On top of positive research announced at last week's European cardiology congress comes a new meta-analytical study, published in today's Lancet, that concludes patients with drug-eluting stents don't have a greater risk of death than patients whose stents are bare.

Unfortunately for Boston Scientific, the study also suggested that patients implanted with the company's Taxus stent had a slightly increased risk of heart attack when compared with patients with Cypher stents. Taxus patients also were a bit more likely to develop blood clots and to require follow-up procedures, the study shows.

- here's J&J's release
- read the article from The New York Times

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