More than 100,000 people worldwide with coronary artery disease have been treated with absorb
Abbott announced its positive one-year clinical results from Absorb Japan, a multi-centre, randomised trial comparing the safety and effectiveness of Abbott’s fully dissolving Absorb heart stent to XIENCE, Abbott’s market-leading, permanent drug eluting stent. The trial was conducted in 38 sites in Japan and enrolled 400 people with coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease. The results were featured at ESC Congress 2015, an annual event of the European Society of Cardiology that brings together cardiologists from around the world, with the goal of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease. In addition, the data was published simultaneously in the European Heart Journal.
Absorb is a first-of-its-kind device that functions like a permanent, metallic stent by opening a blocked artery in the heart, restoring blood flow and providing relief from symptoms of CAD. However, unlike a metallic stent, which permanently restricts vessel movement and limits future treatment options, Absorb is made of a naturally dissolvable material that leaves behind a restored vessel free of a permanent implant, with the potential to flex, pulse and dilate in response to various demands on the heart, based on people’s lifestyle and activities.
“The results of the ABSORB Japan study continue to affirm that Absorb shows strong performance near-term and preserves the vessel for potential future procedures,” said Takeshi Kimura, Director, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kyoto University Hospital, Japan, and principal investigator of the ABSORB Japan study. “Fully dissolving heart stents are the next evolution in percutaneous coronary intervention and are designed to leave nothing behind in the body, thus restoring the vessel more naturally over time, which cannot be achieved with a permanent drug eluting stent.”
“The ABSORB Japan results contribute to the growing body of Absorb data, providing further clinical evidence that the fully dissolving stent initially functions like a permanent, metallic stent by opening up blocked heart vessels and restoring blood flow. However, unlike a metallic drug eluting stent, Absorb naturally dissolves over time, leaving nothing behind,” said Charles Simonton, Chief Medical Officer and Divisional Vice President, Medical Affairs, vascular, Abbott. “The fact that Absorb completely dissolves means that the restored vessel has the potential to move as it needs to, based on lifestyle activities.”
Absorb is available in more than 90 countries worldwide. Abbott completed its submission for regulatory approval of Absorb in the US and Japan. ABSORB Japan is designed to support regulatory approval of Absorb in Japan. At the 2015 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference in October, Abbott will present one-year pivotal data from ABSORB III and ABSORB China at late-breaking sessions, as well as two-year data from ABSORB II.
Currently, Absorb is an investigational device in the US and Japan, and it is not approved for commercial use in these countries.