Abbott Labs and Boston Scientific say Xience V stent will be sold in Japan in a few weeks

Abbott, Boston Scientific stent approved in Japan

NEW YORK — Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp. said Friday that Japanese regulators approved the sale of one of their drug-coated stents.

The companies said the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved marketing of Abbott’s Xience V stent as a treatment for coronary artery disease. Abbott said it will start selling the stent in Japan in the next few weeks, after government reimbursement rates are set.

In some markets, Abbott sells the stent to Boston Scientific, which markets it under the name Promus. Stents are mesh wire tubes that are inserted into arteries to hold them open after they are surgically cleared of fatty plaque. Some are coated with drugs to prevent scar tissue from re-closing the artery.

Xience V is coated with a drug called everolimus.

The companies said Japan is the second largest market for drug coated stents after the U.S., with about 200,000 procedures done each year.

In morning trading, shares of North Chicago-based Abbott rose 42 cents to $55.19. Shares of Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific fell 9 cents to $9.01.