Study: Medtronic stent safer than competitor

<p>Medtronic Inc. said a new clinical study shows its Endeavor drug-coated stent, which was developed in Santa Rosa, is safer than a leading competitor. </p><p>The three-year study of more than 1,500 patients at 80 U.S. sites compared Endeavor with Boston Scientific’s Taxus drug-coated stent. </p><p>Stents are metal mesh tubes implanted in heart patients’ arteries to keep their blood flowing. Endeavor and Taxus are coated with special drugs to keep arteries from re-clogging. But drug-coated stents have been linked to blood clotting, heart attacks and even death in a small number of cases. </p><p>The study shows patients treated with Endeavor have a much smaller risk of blood clotting, heart attack or cardiac death than those treated with Taxus stents, according to Medtronic. </p><p>Minneapolis-based Medtronic has about 840 employees at its cardiovascular unit in Santa Rosa.</p>