Benefiting Patients and Society

The promise of TAXUS is now a reality, and it is a reality that is benefiting both patients and society.

Drug-eluting stent technology is truly revolutionary. It is rapidly and profoundly changing the way coronary artery disease is treated, and it has the potential for making that change even more profound in the future. Bare-metal stents were a revolution in their own right, but the reintervention rate was unacceptably high, sometimes as high as 20 percent. With TAXUS IV, we saw a reintervention rate of only three percent. We believe that with such low reintervention rates and such successful clinical outcomes, drug-eluting stents may prompt a shift away from open-heart surgery to this less-invasive alternative, in more and more patients.

The benefits to society could be profound as well. Worldwide, more than 16 million people a year die from coronary artery disease. Countries around the world struggle with rising health care costs, and coronary artery disease is one of the most expensive diseases to treat. Yet treating it can help add quality years to patients’ lives, and drug-eluting stents are a highly cost-effective means of helping give people these added years.