ART: Bucking the Trend in Bioabsorbable Stents

Bioabsorbable stents arouse great enthusiasm among both interventionalists and industry executives, because they have one major advantage over current stents, both bare metal and drug-eluting: they obviate the need for a permanent implant when only a temporary scaffolding effect is needed. Many stent companies are hedging their bets, working on stents that incorporate both drug elution and bioabsorbability--but not Paris-based Arterial Remodeling Technologies, which is arguing that natural healing, not drug therapy, is the best approach to therapeutically active stents.