Stent breakthrough boosts J&J
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Shares of J&J (JNJ: up $1.36 to $62.00, Research, Estimates) rose in afternoon trading as the company announced very positive results for its new drug-coated stents. Stents are small tubes used to unclog arteries. J&J’s Cypher stent is in the new class of drug-eluting stent designed to use medication to prevent arteries from reclogging. A U.S. trial showed the company’s drug-coated stents kept the stent-covered section of the artery from reclogging in all but 2 percent of cases, J&J said. At the edges of the stents, arteries suffered reclogging in about 9 percent of cases. With bare-metal stents with no drugs, restenosis, or reclogging, generally occurs in 25 percent to 30 percent of cases. J&J hopes the data will bolster its lead over a pack of companies — Boston Scientific (BSX: down $0.58 to $26.15, Research, Estimates), Guidant, Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories — in the race to bring a coated stent to the U.S. market. Shares of J&J are now about $4 off their 52-week high. According to analysts, medical device companies are becoming more attractive as big pharma companies have seen slower growth in earnings and revenue. “Recently we’ve de-emphasized the large multinational drug companies because of the headwinds they’ve faced because of patent expirations and no big product approvals,” Linda Miller, manager of the John Hancock Health Sciences Fund, told CNNfn. More : money.cnn.com |