Novoste: Radiation's Glowing Promise
Executive Summary
At this year's American College of Cardiology meeting, radiation pioneer Novoste squeezed in at the last minute with data from its START clinical trial proving the safety and efficacy of radiation in treating in-stent restenosis. Novoste's path to this promising opportunity has been long and costly and fraught with regulatory challenges, epitomized by a European launch that, company officials say, was misunderstood by most industry observers. To be sure, radiation still has its skeptics and critics, but Novoste and its supporters believe that the START data underscores that beta radiation represents the best hope for future restenosis treatments. The real significance of the START data isn't that it proves that radiation works--it's that, for now, the future debate about radiation is likely to be defined by Novoste.
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