Ennis & Ennis is dedicated to helping victims of defective and recalled traditional stents as well as the newer drug eluting stents throughout the country. If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of stent malfunction you may be entitled to compensation. For more information about your legal rights or to find out the latest recall information or for a free legal consultation contact our stent injury attorneys today.

Effectiveness of Heart Bypass Surpasses Drug Stents: Study
-TheMedGuru
09/04/2008- While, an open heart surgery or a heart bypass (as it is commonly called) is an invasive procedure that reroutes blood vessels to detour around blockages, angioplasty, a relatively new, non-invasive technique of mechanically widening the blocked arteries involves a tightly folded balloon being pushed into the blocked blood vessels. More>>>

Boston Scientific Stent Device Recall: Here's a Tip You Don't Want…
-LawyersandSettlements
08/18/2008- Washington, DC: Yet another recall of a medical device proves that contrary to what we would like to believe, medical devices are no more reliable than anything else in the manufactured world. Such appears to be the case with the Boston Scientific NexStent Monorail, NexStent Carotid Stent and Monorail Delivery System that has been voluntarily recalled. More>>>

Boston Scientific Recalls NexStent Products
-Reuters
08/17/2008- Boston Scientific Corp is recalling its NexStent carotid artery products because part of the stent's delivery system can detach and cause injury, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. More>>>

Drug-Coated Stent Fit for the Long Haul?
04/23/2008 - The new Xience stent beat the popular Taxus stent in a one-year trial, but experts disagree on whether stent science is moving too fast. More>>>

Trouble in Trialville: Plans for Post-DES Clopidogrel Trial Get Bogged Down Over Trial Design, Leadership.
04/13/2008- Almost 16 months after an FDA hearing into drug-eluting stent (DES) safety emphasized the need for a randomized clinical trial to determine, once and for all, the optimal duration of clopidogrel (Plavix, Sanofi-Aventis) plus aspirin after DES implantation, researchers, government agencies, and industry sponsors cannot agree on how it should move ahead. More>>>

Patients With Blood Clots Inside Heart Stents Face Recurrence
03/30/2008- One in six heart patients who develop a blood clot inside the device used to open their clogged arteries are likely to develop another blockage, a study found. More>>>

CDRH Chief: Drug-Eluting Stent Guidelines on the Way
03/27/2008 - A long-awaited guidance on drug-eluting heart stents is imminent, CDRH Director Daniel Schultz says. More>>>

FDA Proposes Stent Guidelines

03/27/2008 - The Food and Drug Administration proposed tougher clinical-trial guidelines for drug-coated stents in response to concerns about blood clotting in the artery-opening devices long after implantation. More>>>

FDA Wants Longer Studies and Harder Endpoints for Drug-Eluting Stent Approvals

03/26/2008 - The FDA proposed today that new drug-eluting stents accumulate at least 12 months of data, with twice that experience for a substantial number of patients, before the devices are submitted for approval. More>>>

Drug-Coated Stents Boost Death Rate by Over 400% in Heart Attack Patients
02/28/2008 - Drug-coated stents increased the risk of death in certain heart attack patients by nearly five times according to a recent study presented at the meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Vienna. "Patients are now very wary about these stents,'' lead researcher Gabriel Steg said. "Personally, I don't use these stents in heart attack patients any longer.'' More>>>

Fewer Deaths, MIs With CABG Than DES for Multivessel Disease in NY State 

01/28/2008 - More patients with multivessel disease will die within 18 months if treated with drug-eluting stents (DES) than they will if they undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. More>>>

Bypass Bests Drug-Eluting Stents in Survival Comparison

01/24/2008 - In a head-to-head comparison of coronary artery bypass surgery and drug-eluting stents, the advantage went to CABG with significantly better overall survival and lower risk of recurrent myocardial infarction. More>>>

New questions on drug-eluted stents

01/24/2008 - People who have multiple heart blockages and a drug-eluted stent in their heart die at a higher rate than those who undergo heart bypass surgery, according to a University of Albany researcher. More>>>

Super-Thin Drug-Free Coating 'Hides' Stent as It Unblocks Heart Arteries

01/22/2008 - A new stent with a nanothin surface application shows promise in opening and healing blocked heart arteries without the life-threatening dangers of drug-eluting stents, according to a study being presented at the 20th annual International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET). More>>>

'Drug-Free' Stent Coating Shows Promise

01/21/2008 - A new kind of coated stent holds promise for overcoming the major problems with these tubes that are inserted to keep arteries open after clot-clearing angioplasty, Italian researchers report. More>>>

Long-term treatment after drug-eluting stents is key

01/13/2008 - Dual antiplatelet therapy is extremely important after implanting a drug-eluting stent to open a blocked coronary artery, according to updated joint Guidelines for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention from the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions. More>>>

Life saving stents pose problems for some

12/31/2007 - When Lynnet Johnson got her first heart stent in 2000, she thought it was the solution to her heart problem — not the start of a new one. More>>>

FDA Expects to Toughen Coated-Stent Guidelines

12/14/2007 - The Food and Drug Administration expects to issue new testing requirements in the next few weeks for drug-coated heart stents, the agency's device chief, Daniel Schultz, said. More>>>

FDA seen toughening coated-stent requirements: WSJ

12/14/2007 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to release new testing requirements for drug-coated heart stents in the next few weeks, the regulatory agency's device chief, Daniel Schultz, told the Wall Street Journal. More>>>

Direct-to-Consumer Stent Ads

12/06/2007 - Johnson & Johnson has launched an expensive new direct-to-consumer TV campaign to tell folks about the benefits of their drug-eluting stent, the Cypher stent. According to a report in the New York Times, Dr. David E. Kandzari, the Chief Medical Officer at Cordis (a J&J company) explains: “We think we have a good safety story to tell, and we want to encourage heart patients to talk about it with their doctors." More>>>

Consumer ad for Cypher aims to fix dipping sales, boost brand recognition, New York Times suggests

12/05/2007 - Cordis/Johnson & Johnson broke new ground in the world of direct-to-consumer marketing by launching a television commercial for its Cypher drug-eluting stent (DES) during a Thanksgiving Day football game, New York Times reporter Barnaby Feder writes in the Times today. More>>>

A Heart Stent Maker Decides the Way to the Patient Is Through the Patient

12/04/2007 - FOOTBALL fans who tuned in to watch the Dallas Cowboys crush the New York Jets on Thanksgiving Day saw at least one novel play: the first attempt by a medical device maker to market a heart stent directly to consumers. More>>>

Latest on Drug-Coated Stents

11/14/2007 - At the recent American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando, investigators from Massachusetts presented evidence from a large registry trial suggesting that, after a two-year follow-up, drug-coated stents (or drug-eluting stents, DES) may yield a somewhat lower overall risk of mortality than bare metal stents. More>>>

Doctors Use Drug-Coated Stents With Caution

11/12/2007 - The No. 1 killer in America is heart disease. Clogged arteries in the heart can lead to chest pain, heart attack and death, but what to do about the blockages has been a matter of some debate. More>>>

Study: Certain stents are safer

11/05/2007 - People with drug-coated stents were less likely to die or suffer heart attacks within two years than those treated with plain metal devices, according to research presented Sunday in Orlando. More>>>

Drug-eluting stents not cost effective if used in all patients

11/05/2007 - In the long-term, drug-eluting stents (DES) are not a good value for the money if used in all patients with coronary artery disease, according to a report in the November 3rd issue of The Lancet. More>>>

Drug stents not good value for many patients: study

11/01/2007 - Expensive drug-coated stents -- used to prop open clogged coronary arteries -- are not worth using in many patients, Swiss researchers said on Friday.

The devices can, however, be cost-effective in a subset of heart patients who have particularly narrow vessels. More>>>

Reducing the Risks of Stents

10/23/2007 - Tiny mesh tubes called stents have been on a high-stakes medical rollercoaster ride. Starting in 1994, doctors began inserting the metal tubes in the clogged arteries of patients to prop them open. The problem, though, was that those blood vessels closed up again within a few years in up to 30% of recipients, when cells in the vessel walls proliferated and narrowed the arteries. More>>>

UPDATE: Angiotech Sees 3Q Loss; Lowers 2007 Outlook

10/19/2007 - Shares of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ANPI) fell sharply Friday after the company warned that third-quarter results would be below expectations, forcing it to cut its outlook for 2007. More>>>

Advisory Committee Recommends Approval for Medtronic Stent

10/17/2007 - An FDA advisory committee voted unanimously to recommend conditional approval for Medtronic’s Endeavor drug-eluting stent as a treatment for coronary artery disease. More>>>

Cypher stent sales continue decline

10/16/2007 - Sales of the Cypher sirolimus-eluting stent have sunk even lower this fall, down 15% from levels reported by the company for the second quarter of 2007. As previously reported by heartwire, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced in July that sales of its signature drug-eluting stent (DES) had dropped 41% from the same time in 2006. More>>>

New stent hits setback

10/06/2007 - The waters got a little choppy on Friday for Medtronic's Endeavor stent as federal reviewers raised questions about the medical device in advance of an important meeting next week. More>>>

Courts clogged with stent patent cases

10/04/2007 - Why would a company argue in court that its medical product was dangerous, even as it played down the risks in public?

Johnson & Johnson did just that recently as part of its long battle for supremacy in cardiac stents. More>>>

ESC: Drug-Eluting Stent Debate Renewed by Registry Data

09/04/2007 - The use of drug-eluting stents in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is associated with a five- to six-fold increase in all cause mortality at two years, according to an international acute coronary syndrome registry. More>>>

DES: friend or foe?

09/03/2007 - The current FDA approved stents (CYPHER and TAXUS) have been associated with late stent thrombosis (LST) (>30days following implantation) however, the mechanisms predictive of LST are poorly understood. Pathologic studies are one of the best methods for detailed analysis of morphologic changes that occur after placement of Drug Eluting Stents to determine the causes of LST. More>>>

Death Rate High In Drug-Coated Stent Trial

08/27/2007 - Nearly a third of patients who had drug-coated stents implanted in vein grafts to improve coronary blood flow died within 32 months, Dutch cardiologists report. More>>>

British Doctors Protest Heart Stent Plan

08/27/2007 - British heart doctors are trying to defeat a proposal to end government coverage of drug-coated heart stents, tiny metal-mesh tubes that prop open clogged arteries. More>>>

Lawmakers Investigate FDA’s Handling of Cordis Warning Letter

08/21/2007 -Two high-ranking members of Congress sent letters last week to Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson (J&J) subsidiary, as well as the FDA, investigating the agency’s handling of a warning letter related to the company’s Cypher stents. More>>>

Safety Issues Eat Away at Stent Makers

08/16/2007 - Stent makers are expected to lose $1 billion market share, and are already cutting thousands of jobs, due to safety questions regarding drug eluting stents. More>>>

US government committee requests documents from FDA, Cordis relating to 2004 Cypher warning letter

08/14/2007 - The US House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce has sent letters to the FDA commissioner and to the CEO of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) requesting a slew of documents relating to an April 2004 warning letter sent by the FDA to Cordis/J&J regarding manufacturing of its Cypher drug-eluting stent (DES). More>>>

Lawmaker seeks data from J&J on FDA stent warning

08/14/2007 - Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday the chairman of a U.S. House of Representatives committee asked for records related to a 2004 warning letter from U.S. regulators on its drug-eluting Cypher stent. More>>>

Drug-eluting Stent Controversy Outlined

08/09/2007 - The Summer 2007 issue of The American Heart Hospital Journal explores one of the pivotal issues in cardiology today, the drug-eluting stent (DES). More>>>

Stent Thrombosis Particularly Risky for Multivessel Disease

08/09/2007 - Study shows that when AngioJet thrombectomy is used to remove large thrombus before placement of a drug-eluting stent (DES), it is associated with significantly lower rates of subsequent death, repeat heart attack and stent thrombosis. More>>>

Slow stent sales contribute to the hemorrhaging of the work force

08/06/2007 - Johnson & Johnson blamed the cuts on disappointing stent revenue and upcoming drug patent expirations. Cardiologists have been turning away from stents—mesh-like metal appliances implanted during angioplasties—for reasons which include reports that the most popular and expensive kind can increase the risk of blood clots that cause heart attacks. More>>>

Large thrombus burden pinpoints high-risk STEMI patients

08/06/2007 - ST-elevation MI (STEMI) patients who have a large thrombus burden on angiography are at high risk of adverse outcomes and stent thrombosis following primary PCI, according to a new study. Dr George Sianos (Thoraxcenter, Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and colleagues report their findings online July 30, 2007 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. More>>>

Stent Thrombosis Particularly Risky for Multivessel Disease

07/31/07 - Drug-eluting stents appear to pose a particular risk for thrombosis in patients with diabetes and multivessel coronary disease, researchers here found. More>>>

DES sales plummet: Stent thrombosis, COURAGE, and competition to blame

07/20/2007 - The two companies selling drug-eluting stents (DES) in the US have announced plummeting sales of their devices over the past year. More>>>

Death Rate High in Drug-Coated Stent Trial

07/10/2007 - Nearly a third of patients who had drug-coated stents implanted in vein grafts to improve coronary blood flow died within 32 months, Dutch cardiologists report. More>>>

Heart Doctors Urge Caution With Drug Coated Stents
01/11/207 - CHICAGO - A group representing 3,700 cardiologists around the world Thursday warned physicians to be careful when recommending drug-eluting stents to treat diseased arteries. More >>>

Cordis Corporation Announces Clinical And Educational Programs For The CYPHER Sirolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent
12/11/2006 - Cordis Corporation stated to an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that analysis of its research on the CYPHER Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent suggests a need for additional education on anti-platelet therapy regimens for bare-metal and drug-eluting stent patients and further research to understand safety factors. More >>>

FDA Advisors Want Revised Labels on the Drug-Coated Stents to Warn of Complications
12/09/2006 - A divided Food and Drug Administration advisory panel Friday said cardiac patients should be warned they face a higher rate of life-threatening complications from unapproved use of drug-coated stents. More >>>

FDA Panel Seeks Warning That Stents May Be Unsafe12/09/2006 - New drug-oozing stents widely used to prop open clogged arteries are associated with an increased risk of blood clots, heart attacks and death for the majority of patients receiving the devices, an expert panel concluded yesterday. More >>>

Analysis: Panel Urges Warning On Stents
12/08/2006 - A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended new warnings Friday for popular medical devices used in millions of patients with cardiovascular disease. More >>>

Stents Day In The Sun
12/07/2006 - A Food and Drug Administration panel is slated to review safety data on the use of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Boston Scientific's (BSX) drug-eluting stents amid concerns that the devices could lead to greater instances of blood clots. More >>>

If you or a loved one have been injured during surgical placement of a stent or have been injured as a result of an implanted drug eluting stent (drug coated stent) such as the Boston Scientific Taxus stent or the Johnson & Johnson Cypher stent you may be entitled to compensation. To learn more about the stent recalls, for information regarding your legal rights, or the possiblilty of a class action lawsuit contact our stent lawyers for a free, confidential, case evaluation today. Fill out our online case evaluation form or call us toll free at 1-800-856-6405.