Biosensors International has not only developed a new stent, coating, and delivery technology in-house, but has also come up with its own drug, a rarity among small stent companies. Biosensors has adopted an aggressive dealmaking strategy much more akin to a large device or drug company, than a small firm. The result is that Biosensors has entered into alliances with big companies, including Guidant, and start-ups that have turned what until recently was a small interventional cardiology OEM company into one of the most innovative players in the drug-eluting stent market.

The successful commercialization of drug-eluting stents (DES) has done much to pave the way for the biocoating industy. DES not only helped establish a new regulatory body to facilitate device-drug reviews, the FDA Office of Combination Products, they also proved that biocoated devices could take market share from uncoated products, command premium pricing and premium reimbursement.

Summarizing the month in European dealmaking.