Study Favours TAXUS(TM) Stent Over Cypher(TM) Stent and Bare-Metal Stents in Diabetic Patients

Study Favours TAXUS(TM) Stent Over Cypher(TM) Stent and Bare-Metal Stents in Diabetic Patients

November 20, 2006

Lower Re-Intervention Rates for the TAXUS Stent in Diabetic Patients

    NATICK, Mass. and CHICAGO, Nov. 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/
-- Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) today welcomed
a presentation by Joost Daemen, M.D., and Patrick Serruys,
M.D., entitled "The Long Term Efficacy of
Sirolimus-eluting (SES) and Paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES)
as Compared to Bare-Metal Stents (BMS) in Patients With
Diabetes Mellitus." Data were presented from the
T-SEARCH/RESEARCH registry, a 708-patient, real-world
registry managed from the Thoraxcenter, Erasmus University
Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The
presentation reports that the TAXUS(TM) stent (PES)
exhibited a lower re-intervention rate and equal or lower
instances of death or heart attack than the Cypher(TM)
stent (SES) and bare-metal stents (BMS). The data were
presented at the annual American Heart Association (AHA)
Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

    The presentation reported two-year results, which
trended in favor of the TAXUS stent compared to the Cypher
stent and BMS in both target vessel revascularization (TVR)
and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) rates. The TVR rate
for the TAXUS stent was 9.7 percent compared to 15.3
percent for the Cypher stent (p=0.06) and 19.5 percent for
BMS (p=0.0034). Rates of TVR for the Cypher stent and BMS
were comparable (p=0.97). The study also reported rates of
MACE with the TAXUS stent of 21.2 percent compared to 28.9
percent for the Cypher stent (p=0.058 PES vs. SES) and 29.7
percent for BMS (p=0.04 PES vs. BMS). The presenter
concluded that the MACE data showed no benefit to SES as
compared to BMS in the study's patient population, and that
there was a trend toward better TVR outcomes with PES.

    Two-year cumulative incidence of mortality was
comparable among the three stent groups, with rates of 11.5
percent for the TAXUS stent, 13.3 percent for the Cypher
stent and 9.8 percent for BMS. The two-year stent
thrombosis rate for the TAXUS stent was lower than that of
the Cypher stent (2.4 percent versus 4.4 percent), however,
the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.29).
Stent thrombosis for BMS was 0.8 percent, which was not
significantly different from TAXUS (p=0.18). Stent
thrombosis for Cypher at two years was significantly higher
compared to BMS (p=0.015).

    "This study provides further insight into the
strong performance of the TAXUS stent in diabetic patients
and adds to the growing body of TAXUS stent data in this
difficult-to-treat patient population," said Paul
LaViolette, Chief Operating Officer of Boston Scientific.
"These results are particularly compelling because
they represent patients with multiple complexities, the
kind physicians treat every day in real-world settings. We
are also pleased that the data demonstrated that the safety
profile of the TAXUS stent was comparable to -- or better
than -- that of bare-metal stents."

    Diabetic patients generally have more long-term
complications than interventional cardiology patients as a
whole, making results in diabetic patients with heart
disease worthy of note when evaluating overall stent
performance. The important and growing diabetic patient
subset accounts for approximately one-quarter of all
coronary interventional procedures worldwide(1).

    Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer,
manufacturer and marketer of medical devises whose products
are used in a broad range of interventional medical
specialties. For more information, please visit:
http://www.bostonscientific.com .

    This press release contains forward-looking statements.
Boston Scientific wishes to caution the reader of this press
release that actual results may differ from those discussed
in the forward-looking statements and may be adversely
affected by, among other things, risks associated with new
product development and commercialization, clinical trials,
intellectual property, regulatory approvals, competitive
offerings, Boston Scientific's over all business strategy,
and other factors described in Boston Scientific's filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    (1) Kereiakes DJ and Young JJ. Percutaneous coronary
        revascularization of diabetic patients in the era
of
        drug-eluting stents. Rev Cariovasc Med 2005: 6
(suppl 1): S48-S58

    For more information, please contact:

     Geraldine Varoqui
     Boston Scientific PR Manager International
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Tracy Paul
     BSC press office
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]
 
SOURCE  Boston Scientific Corporation