Research In Brief

COMPARE results: Boston Scientific's second-generation Taxus Liberté paclitaxel-eluting stent "should no longer be used in everyday practice" because the device is inferior to Abbott's everolimus-eluting Xience V, Dutch researchers assert in an article published online in The Lancet Jan. 8. One-year results of the 1,800-patient COMPARE study, conducted by Elvin Kedhi, Maasstad Ziekenhuis, Rotterdam, et al., were first unveiled at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference in September (1"The Gray Sheet" Sept. 28, 2009). The primary endpoint, a composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction and target vessel revascularization, occurred in 6% of patients in the Xience V arm versus 9% of the Taxus subjects. The COMPARE results represent a double-edged sword for Boston Scientific - the company also markets the private-label version of Xience, called Promus, and thus benefits from positive Xience data. However, bad press for Taxus could make it difficult for Boston Scientific to stabilize the brand's declining share of the drug-eluting stent market, Wachovia analyst Larry Biegelsen pointed out Jan. 8. J.P. Morgan's Michael Weinstein estimates Promus will be the biggest beneficiary of Taxus' lost share of the DES segment, increasing its share from 27.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 31.6% in 2010. Meanwhile, Xience's share is expected to remain flat at 30%-31%, he said