Abbott Halts Sales of First Gen Bioresorbable Absorb Stent

Abbott Halts Sales of First Gen Bioresorbable Absorb Stent

CHICAGO, IL — Due to low commercial sales, Abbott will stop selling the first-generation bioresorbable Absorb coronary stent, the company announced^[1].

Abbott will discontinue all sizes of Absorb Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold System and Absorb GT1 Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold System as of September 14, 2017, according to a statement posted September 8 on Abbott’s website.

“Absorb sales accounted for less than 1% of Abbott’s overall stent sales globally,” Abbott spokesperson Kristina Becker told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology.

“Absorb is a first-generation device that took longer to implant to get the best results. Sales volume for Absorb was low, and it cost more to make Absorb than what it sold for—making it unsustainable. The second-generation device we’re working on has a thinner profile and is easier to deliver,” Becker said.

In July 2016, Abbott’s Absorb GT1 stent became the first absorbable stent approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for coronary artery disease, following near unanimous support for the device from an FDA advisory panel.

“We pioneered bioresorbable technology because we believe it offers patients the possibility of life without permanent metallic implants, and we will continue work on a next-generation bioresorbable device,” Abbott said in the statement.

“We’ll also continue to follow implanted patients in existing Absorb clinical trials to assess long-term outcomes after the scaffold has dissolved,” the company added.

The company said physicians can implant the Absorb stent with their available inventory if they choose to do so. In the European Union, this applies only to centers currently participating in approved clinical studies.

Becker said Abbott’s everolimus-eluting cobalt-chromium stent (Xience) will continue to be the “cornerstone of our portfolio, and we will focus efforts on a next-generation metallic drug-eluting product, Xience Sierra, which offers improved deliverability and expanded sizes, and to imaging and physiology assessment tools that help doctors perform complex interventional procedures.”

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