Abbott Laboratories announced that the XIENCE Xpedition(TM) Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (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. Samin K. Sharma, M.D., director of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology, dean of International Clinical Affiliations, and president of the Mount Sinai Heart Network at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, was the first physician to implant a patient with XIENCE Xpedition in the United States.

Abbott's XIENCE drug eluting stents, including the newly approved XIENCE 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 is supported by robust clinical evidence from the XIENCE family of drug eluting stents, including data from more than 45,000 patients across more than 100 studies, with long-term outcomes out to five years.

Data have consistently shown an excellent safety profile for the XIENCE family of stents. XIENCE Xpedition will be available in the largest size matrix in the U.S. market, with both rapid exchange (RX) and over-the-wire (OTW) configurations, providing physicians with the most popular delivery platforms. XIENCE Xpedition has diameters ranging from 2.25 mm to 4 mm, including a unique 3.25 mm diameter, and lengths from 8 mm to 38 mm, for more accurate vessel sizing.