NATICK, Massachusetts, March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Scientific Corporation today announced it has received CE Mark for its OMEGA(TM) Platinum Chromium Bare-Metal Coronary Stent System, the Company's third-generation coronary stenting technology. The OMEGA Stent System incorporates a unique platinum chromium (PtCr) alloy designed specifically for coronary stenting and is intended to provide interventional cardiologists a bare-metal stent with improved acute performance in treating patients with coronary artery disease. The Company will begin marketing the OMEGA Stent System immediately in the European Union and other CE Mark countries.

"In my experience, the platinum chromium alloy and stent design used in the OMEGA Stent offer excellent deliverability, visibility and conformability without sacrificing radial strength or resistance to stent recoil," said Antonio Colombo, M.D., Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Columbus Hospital and San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. "The OMEGA Stent and platinum chromium alloy offer meaningful performance improvements without the tradeoffs associated with older stent alloys."

The OMEGA Stent System is part of the Company's PtCr Stent series, which includes the TAXUS(R) Element(TM) Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent and PROMUS Element(TM) Everolimus-Eluting Stent Systems. All three stents feature the novel PtCr alloy and an innovative stent design, which combine to offer greater radial strength and flexibility while reducing stent recoil. The higher density alloy provides superior visibility while permitting thinner struts compared to prior-generation stents[1]. The enhanced delivery system features a dual-layer balloon and is engineered to improve access to challenging lesions.

"The platinum chromium PROMUS Element and TAXUS Element Stents have been well received by physicians since their launch in CE Mark countries, and we are pleased to now offer a bare-metal coronary stent built on the same PtCr platform," said Mike Phalen, Executive Vice President and President, International for Boston Scientific. "The OMEGA Stent is the latest example of Boston Scientific's commitment to continued innovation in coronary stenting. We are confident our platinum chromium stent technology will further extend our worldwide stent market leadership."

"The positive clinical data from our PtCr (Element) series trials support the acute performance benefits provided by our new platinum chromium stent platform," said Keith D. Dawkins, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Boston Scientific's Cardiology, Rhythm and Vascular Group. "The OMEGA Stent complements the PtCr Stent series to provide a full range of coronary stenting solutions for interventional cardiologists, giving them the option to treat patients with a paclitaxel, everolimus or bare-metal stent."

The OMEGA Stent is offered in 48 different sizes ranging in diameter from 2.25 mm to 4.50 mm and lengths of 8 mm to 32 mm. Boston Scientific offers the most comprehensive coronary stent portfolio in the industry, offering physicians and their patients the broadest size matrix and the industry's only two-drug platform. The Company received CE Mark approval for the PROMUS Element Everolimus-Eluting Stent System in October 2009 and for the TAXUS Element Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent System in May 2010.