Abbott Laboratories / Biocompatibles International plc (cardiovascular stent business)

Coronary Artery Disease (Drug-Eluting Stents)

Disease Overview

Coronary artery disease causes plaque buildup that narrows arteries, often treated with percutaneous coronary intervention and stent placement. In-stent restenosis (re-narrowing of treated vessels) was a major unmet need in the early 2000s, driving development of drug-eluting and biologically-active stents that suppress neointimal hyperplasia.

Competitive Landscape

In early 2002, the coronary stent landscape was pivoting from bare-metal to drug-eluting platforms. Cordis (J&J) was advancing the Cypher sirolimus-eluting stent, and Boston Scientific was advancing the Express paclitaxel-eluting Taxus platform — both of which would dominate the U.S. drug-eluting stent market post-2003. Biocompatibles' BiodivYsio platform used a proprietary phosphorylcholine (PC) polymer coating compatible with multiple drug payloads (dexamethasone, batimastat, paclitaxel, plus VEGF gene therapy under study), making it a versatile delivery scaffold rather than a single-drug stent. Abbott's $235M purchase gave it the BiodivYsio family plus the PC-coating platform, complementing Abbott's internally developed rapamycin-analog (zotarolimus, later ZoMaxx) coating program. The deal effectively positioned Abbott as the third major drug-eluting stent contender alongside Cordis/J&J and Boston Scientific, though Abbott would later abandon ZoMaxx in favor of acquiring Guidant's vascular business in 2006 to gain the everolimus-eluting Xience stent.