VANCOUVER
,
Sept. 22
/CNW/ - Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANPI, TSX: ANP) today announced that its corporate partner,
Boston
Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX), has released comprehensive data from the TAXUS ATLAS clinical program, a series of global, prospective, single-arm trials evaluating the TAXUS(R) Liberté(R) Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent System in a variety of lesions and patient groups. Three-year results from the TAXUS ATLAS Small Vessel and Long Lesion Trials continue to show significant advantages for the newer TAXUS Liberté Stent when compared to the first-generation TAXUS(R) Express(R) Stent. The data were presented at the 21st annual Cardiovascular Research Foundation's (CRF) annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium in
San Francisco
.
The TAXUS ATLAS Small Vessel Trial was designed to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of the 2.25 mm diameter TAXUS(R) Liberté(R) Atom(TM) Stent in small coronary vessels. The TAXUS ATLAS Long Lesion Trial was designed to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of the TAXUS(R) Liberté(R) Long 38 mm Stent in patients with long coronary lesions.
Boston
Scientific remains the only company to offer both 2.25 mm diameter and 38 mm length drug-eluting coronary stents in the U.S.
Three-year results from the TAXUS ATLAS Small Vessel Trial demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in the rate of Target Lesion Revascularization (TLR) in small vessels treated with the TAXUS Liberté Atom Stent as compared to the TAXUS Express Atom Stent (10.0% vs. 22.1%, p=0.008), representing a 55 percent relative risk reduction. Additionally, the three-year MACE rate for the TAXUS Liberté Atom Stent was 19.5 percent as compared to 32.4 percent for the TAXUS Express Atom Stent (p=0.03), a relative reduction of 40 percent. The composite safety measure of cardiac death or myocardial infarction (MI, commonly referred to as heart attack) remained numerically lower at three years for the TAXUS Liberté Atom Stent as compared to the TAXUS Express Atom Stent (6.5% vs. 7.4%, p=0.79).
"The TAXUS ATLAS Small Vessel Trial showed a sustained and significantly reduced risk of revascularization in small vessels for the TAXUS Liberté Atom Stent as compared to the TAXUS Express Atom Stent out to three years," said Mark A. Turco, M.D., Director of the Center for Cardiac and Vascular Research, Washington Adventist Hospital, and Co-Principal Investigator of the trial. "Positive three-year data from the TAXUS ATLAS Long Lesion Trial showed the TAXUS Liberté
Long Stent
significantly reduces the risk of MI and cardiac death in long lesions compared to the TAXUS Express Stent, while reporting zero percent stent thrombosis. These data, combined with the previously reported reduction in nine-month late-loss, suggest that these improvements are likely the result of the thinner struts and improved stent geometry of the TAXUS Liberté Stent."
In the TAXUS ATLAS Long Lesion Trial, the TAXUS Liberte
Long Stent
demonstrated significantly improved safety outcomes when treating long lesions compared to the TAXUS Express Stent. The rate of cardiac death showed a significant 78 percent reduction in patients treated with the TAXUS Liberté
Long Stent
compared to the TAXUS Express Stent (1.5% vs. 6.7%, p=0.03). Overall MI showed a significant 72 percent reduction at three years in patients receiving a single TAXUS Liberté
Long Stent
compared to a single TAXUS Express Stent (2.9% vs. 10.4%, p=0.01). This improvement was primarily driven by a significant reduction in non-Q wave MI. The TAXUS Liberté
Long Stent
had zero stent thrombosis at three years using either the Protocol definition or the ARC definite/probable definition while the control TAXUS Express Stent reported 0.8 percent stent thrombosis (p=0.49) using the Protocol definition and 3.9 percent (p=0.03) using the ARC definition.
Forward Looking Statements
--------------------------
Statements contained in this press release that are not based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words "believes," "may," "plans," "will," "estimates," "continues," "anticipates," "intends," "expects" and similar expressions, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements may involve, but are not limited to, comments with respect to our objectives and priorities for the remainder of 2009 and beyond, our strategies or future actions, our targets, expectations for our financial condition and the results of, or outlook for, our operations, research and development and product and drug development. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Many such known risks, uncertainties and other factors are taken into account as part of our assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements and include, among others, the following: general economic and business conditions in the
United States
,
Canada
and the other regions in which we operate; market demand; technological changes that could impact our existing products or our ability to develop and commercialize future products; competition; existing governmental regulations and changes in, or the failure to comply with, governmental regulations; availability of financial reimbursement coverage from governmental and third-party payers for products and related treatments; adverse results or unexpected delays in pre-clinical and clinical product development processes; adverse findings related to the safety and/or efficacy of our products or products sold by our partners; decisions, and the timing of decisions, made by health regulatory agencies regarding approval of our technology and products; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development, to expand manufacturing and commercialization activities; and any other factors that may affect our performance. In addition, our business is subject to certain operating risks that may cause any results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release to differ materially from our actual results. These operating risks include: our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to successfully complete pre-clinical and clinical development of our products; changes in our business strategy or development plans; our failure to obtain patent protection for discoveries; loss of patent protection resulting from third-party challenges to our patents; commercialization limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; our ability to obtain rights to technology from licensors; liability for patent claims and other claims asserted against us; our ability to obtain and enforce timely patent and other intellectual property protection for our technology and products; the ability to enter into, and to maintain, corporate alliances relating to the development and commercialization of our technology and products; market acceptance of our technology and products; our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell our products; the availability of capital to finance our activities; our ability to restructure and to service our debt obligations; and any other factors referenced in our other filings with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities or the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). For a more thorough discussion of the risks associated with our business, see the "Risk Factors" section in our annual report for the year ended
December 31, 2008
filed with the SEC on Form 10-K, and our quarterly report for the three months ended
June 30, 2009
filed with the SEC on Form 10-Q.
Given these uncertainties, assumptions and risk factors, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect future results, events or developments.
(C)2009 Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About Angiotech Pharmaceuticals
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company with over 1,500 dedicated employees. Angiotech discovers, develops and markets innovative treatment solutions for diseases or complications associated with medical device implants, surgical interventions and acute injury. To find out more about Angiotech (NASDAQ: ANPI, TSX: ANP), please visit our website at www.angiotech.com.
For further information: DeDe Sheel, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (415) 293-4412, [email protected]
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