FDA approves Xience Xpedition everolimus eluting cardiac stent (Abbott Vascular)

Abbott Vascular has announced that the Xience Xpedition Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System has received FDA approval and is launching immediately in the United States , providing physicians with a next-generation technology with the largest size matrix in the U.S. market.

Xience Xpedition features a new stent delivery system designed to optimize deliverability, particularly in challenging coronary anatomies. Xience drug eluting stents including Xpedition, are the first and only drug eluting stents in the U.S. market to be proven safe for direct stenting. Direct stenting, a technique in which the stent system is not preceded by another device (such as a balloon dilatation catheter) to prepare the lesion, has the potential to save time and resources in the catheterization laboratory.

Xience Xpedition received CE Mark approval in August 2012.