Study reveals Taxus stent's superiority to Cypher

US medical device developer Boston Scientific says it welcomes the results of a follow-up assessment of 5,566 patients, including 1,182 diabetics nearly 500 of whom were treated with insulin, who had received either the Taxus Express2 paclitaxel-eluting stent or the Cypher stent system, both manufactured by Boston.

The results for the insuli-treated diabetic group showed a numerical trend towards improved survival and a lower number of major adverse cardiac events in patients who had received the Taxus stent versus the Cypher. Additionally, among the larger group of diabetic patients where the Taxus system was used to treat more complex lesions, subjects who had received the Taxus stent had a slightly higher American College of Cardiology risk score than those given the Cypher system.

Overall, the results of the program favored the Taxus product in all of the MACE categories assessed. Charles Simonton, chairman of the steering committee for the trial, said that the group planned to continue the program in order to investigate other apparent differences in treatment outcomes.