Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Xience Crushes Taxus Liberté at Two Years

[As it has become ever more clear that BSX’s Taxus does not have what it takes to compete with ABT’s Xience, BSX has argued that a newer version of Taxus called Liberté was where the real battle would take place. However, Liberté hasn’t fared any better against Xience than the original Taxus did. In Oct 2009, one-year data from the 1,800-patient, investigator-led COMPARE study showed Xience was both safer and more effective than Liberté (#msg-45284964, #msg-41855797). Unfortunately for BSX, the two-year data from this study reported in this PR show an even wider advantage for Xience than at one year.]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Abbotts-XIENCE-V-Shows-prnews-1494910114.html?x=0&.v=1

›September 23, 2010, 2:36 pm

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Late-breaking data were presented today from the investigator-initiated COMPARE trial of 1,800 real-world patients involving Abbott's (NYSE:ABT - News) market-leading XIENCE V® Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System and the TAXUS® Liberte® Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System (TAXUS). The results from COMPARE at two years were presented by Peter Smits, M.D., of Maasstad Ziekenhuis, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, during the Cardiovascular Research Foundation's 22nd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in Washington, D.C.

For the endpoint of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at two years, which is a composite of all death, non-fatal heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI) and target vessel revascularization (TVR), XIENCE V showed a 34 percent lower incidence of MACE compared to TAXUS (9.0 percent for XIENCE V vs. 13.7 percent for TAXUS, p-value=0.0016).

The composite secondary endpoint of cardiac death, non-fatal MI and target lesion revascularization (TLR) resulted in a 35 percent lower incidence for XIENCE V compared to TAXUS (7.4 percent for XIENCE V vs. 11.4 percent for TAXUS, p-value=0.0038).

In addition, XIENCE V demonstrated a 77 percent lower rate of stent thrombosis, defined as definite or probable according to ARC (0.9 percent for XIENCE V vs. 3.9 percent for TAXUS, p-value=<0.0001); a 60 percent lower rate of TVR (3.1 percent for XIENCE V vs. 7.7 percent for TAXUS, p-value=<0.0001); a 56 percent lower rate of TLR (2.6 percent XIENCE V vs. 5.9 percent TAXUS, p-value=0.0005); and a 49 percent lower rate of non-fatal MI (3.9 percent XIENCE V for vs. 7.6 percent for TAXUS, p-value=0.0009).

The stent thrombosis rate for XIENCE V between one and two years increased from 0.7 percent at one year to 0.9 percent at two years, while the TAXUS arm increased from 2.6 percent at one year to 3.9 percent at two years. At two years, 88.6 percent of XIENCE V patients and 84.8 percent of TAXUS patients had discontinued dual-antiplatelet therapy.

"The COMPARE results show that the gap in stent thrombosis rates between XIENCE V and TAXUS Liberte widened from 1.9 percent at one year to 3.0 percent at two years," said Charles A. Simonton, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, divisional vice president, Medical Affairs, and chief medical officer, Abbott Vascular. "The COMPARE investigators have provided some of the first major insights into the comparative long-term differences in stent thrombosis rates between one and two years for different stent platforms."

"The two-year results presented today for the COMPARE trial and for the SPIRIT IV trial demonstrate impressive outcomes for XIENCE V compared to TAXUS Liberte and TAXUS Express, respectively," said Robert Hance, senior vice president, vascular, Abbott. "Both of these trials show the differences in the performance of these drug eluting stents and add to the ever-growing body of safety and efficacy data for XIENCE V – reinforcing why XIENCE V continues to be the market-leading drug eluting stent."

About The COMPARE Study

The COMPARE study is a physician-initiated "all-comers" trial sponsored by Maasstad Ziekenhuis of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The study, designed to reflect real-world, everyday clinical practice, enrolled 1,800 patients in a single-center, prospective randomized (1:1) comparison of safety and efficacy of the XIENCE V™ Everolimus Eluting Stent System to the TAXUS® Liberte® Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System. The COMPARE trial was supported in part by an Abbott grant. All aspects of the trial were designed and conducted independent of Abbott.‹