For Boston Scientific (BSX) Stent News Gets More Complex

Stent sales for Boston Scientific (BSX) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) have taken a big drop since research began to emerge that the products could cause heart problems. There have been several conflicting studies about whether bare metal stents or drug-coated stents work better. And, some surveys indicate that drugs work better than either.

A new article in the New England Journal of Medicine offers evidence that drug-coated stents offer the best results for many patients, according to MarketWatch. Drug-coated stent patients needed fewer repeat procedure after they were implanted, compared to bare metal stents. And, they did not appear to raise the risk of heart attack.

That would seem to bring the matter to a conclusion. At least based on this study. But, the researchers did not seem to trust their own results "The small absolute difference in mortality in favor of drug-eluting stents in our study warrants further investigation and should be confirmed or refuted through large, randomized clinical trials with long-term follow-up," the researchers added.

Anyone who is confused can raise his hand. The news certainly will do little to help BSX.

Douglas A. McIntyre