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New Life
Advances in laser machining key to stent market growth
By Daniel McCann, Senior Editor
A laser-cut and expanded stent from SAES Memry undergoes optical inspection.
The coronary stent industry—the one-time
medical device juggernaut that posted double-digit
growth just 5 years ago, then swiftly
dove into a double-digit tailspin—is making a
comeback. After 2 years of near-stagnation due
to concerns about safety and overuse, which
have been addressed (see sidebar, page 38), the
$1.8 billion stent market posted a 3 percent gain
in 2009, said Venkat Rajan, medical devices manager
at market research firm Frost & Sullivan,
San Antonio.
While that’s positive news for stent manufacturers,
significant challenges remain. And
laser machining technology promises to play
an increasingly key role in helping them meet
those challenges.
Competition and innovation
In 2000, Cordis Corp., a Johnson & Johnson
company based in Miami Lakes, Fla., and Boston
Scientific Corp., Natick, Mass., were the
sole suppliers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved
drug-eluting stents. (Ninety
percent of stents sold are DES vs. 10 percent
bare metal.) Today, the OEM competitive pool
SAES Memry
has doubled, with Abbott Vascular, a division
of Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill., and
Medtronic Inc., Cleveland, bidding for a share
of the profits with their FDA-cleared products.
About 10 other companies are at work developing
their own stents. Moreover, during the past
10 years, dozens of contract manufacturers have
entered the industry.
To effectively compete in an increasingly
crowded field, OEMs and contract manufacturers
depend on continual technological innovation
to lower costs, improve quality or both.
According to Dan Capp, vice president of sales
development for Laserage Technology Development
Corp., Waukegan Ill., advances in laser
stent-cutting technology in recent years have focused
on laser workstation motion components,
controllers (software) and the lasers themselves.
Built upon granite bases, laser workstations
incorporate the laser, linear-motor motion systems,
direct-drive rotary axes, laser control electronics,
and CAD/CAM and control software.
The stent-cutting operation starts with stainless
steel, chrome-cobalt-alloy or Nitinol tubes with
diameters ranging from 0.020" to 0.250" loaded
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