Stent Sales Down, Investigations Up

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With cardiac stent sales faltering, doctors and patients worried about their safety, and new investigations cropping up, the industry appears to be in a downward spiral. Now, Congress wants to investigate the manner in which the stents are manufactured. According to a story in the Wall St. Journal, "The House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent out letters today to Johnson & Johnson and the FDA, asking for more information about a warning letter the FDA sent to J&J's Cordis unit in 2004 about its drug-coated stent called Cypher. FDA inspectors found "numerous systemic violations resulting in the adulteration of Cypher stents," reps John Dingell and Bart Stupak note in today's letters, which the WSJ's Anna Wilde Mathews sent to the Health Blog. "Despite these numerous violations, however, Cordis was allowed to continue marketing Cypher stents."