Abbott Laboratories announced the initiation of the ABSORB III clinical trial in patients in the United States. This randomized, controlled trial is designed to enroll approximately 2,250 patients, the majority in the United States, and compare the performance of Abbott's drug eluting Absorb Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold device to the company's XIENCE family of drug eluting stents. The start of this trial in the United States follows the recent international commercial launch of Absorb in Europe and parts of Latin America and Asia, including the recent regulatory approval and launch in India.

Data from the ABSORB III trial will support U.S. regulatory filings for Absorb. The ABSORB III clinical trial is designed to evaluate potential benefits of Absorb in patients with coronary artery disease. Unlike a permanent metallic stent, preliminary evidence of natural vessel function suggests that treatment with an Absorb BVS could provide important clinical benefits.

The primary endpoint of ABSORB III is target lesion failure, a combined measure of safety and efficacy, at one year. In addition, a subset of patients within the trial will be evaluated for novel endpoints such as vasomotion, a measure of how much natural motion returns to the vessel as Absorb dissolves into the arterial tissue.