What impact will the controversy have? Will it give BMS market a boost?
To start with, I do not believe that there is any controversy. The established first generation DES will still hold in 40-60 per cent of high risk (for restenosis) group. Rather than BMS getting a boost, many cardiologists are looking for other alternatives. One such alternative is the polymer devoid second generation DES, which many cardiologists have started using. Initial data appears encouraging, in fact in some types, the Clopidogrel can safely be stopped as early as two months. We do not have data for more than 24 months for these stents, hence, it will be a bit early to compare the long-term results available with the first generation DES. However, like in all technological progress, the second generation stents would eventually replace the first generation one, once long-term safety data is available. Also, we are talking about encouraging results of so called ‘bioactive’ stents, which in strict sense are not DES, but are metal stents coated with bioactive materials like titani
