Taxus®Express2™: Bypassing By-pass Surgery with Paclitaxel-Coated Stents

Taxus® Express2™ has the potential to benefit many of the victims of cardiovascular disease, which causes 40% of all deaths in the US. After a heart attack, patients often undergo an invasive by-pass surgery or a less invasive angioplasty procedure to open up the clogged artery. In the latter procedure, a tiny meshlike device called a stent is inserted into the artery to keep it propped open. However, in many of the stent placement cases, the body reacts to this foreign object with scar tissue formation and the artery narrows again. Taxus® Express2™ is a medical device in which a cancer drug commonly known as Taxol® is imbedded into the interior of the stent. The drug is enclosed in a timed-release polymer so that it is dispensed into the tissue slowly and this prevents the re-blocking (restenosis) of the artery that is being treated. This device has dramatically reduced restenosis rates in patients treated with stents to just 3 to 6 percent, meaning far fewer return visits to the catheterization lab or operating room for cardiac patients. 

Awardees

National Institute of Aging 

• Dr. Steven J. Sollott 

Madison County (NY) Department of Health 

• Dr. James Kinsella