Global life sciences company Abbott has announced that the company has observed positive clinical results from ABSORB Japan, a multi-center, one-year randomized trial comparing the safety and effectiveness of Abbott's fully dissolving Absorb heart stent to XIENCE, Abbott's permanent drug eluting stent.

The trial was conducted in 38 sites in Japan and enrolled 400 people with coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease. Abbott says that the company will feature the results at ESC Congress 2015, an annual event of the European Society of Cardiology that brings together cardiologists from around the world, with the goal of reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease. In addition, the data was published simultaneously in the European Heart Journal.

Abbott explained that Absorb is a first-of-its-kind device that functions like a permanent, metallic stent by opening a blocked artery in the heart, restoring blood flow and providing relief from symptoms of CAD. However, unlike a metallic stent, which permanently restricts vessel movement and limits future treatment options, Absorb is made of a naturally dissolvable material that leaves behind a restored vessel free of a permanent implant, with the potential to flex, pulse and dilate in response to various demands on the heart, based on people's lifestyle and activities.

"The results of the ABSORB Japan study continue to affirm that Absorb shows strong performance near-term and preserves the vessel for potential future procedures," said Takeshi Kimura, Director, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kyoto University Hospital, Japan, and principal investigator of the ABSORB Japan study. Kimura further said, "Fully dissolving heart stents are the next evolution in percutaneous coronary intervention and are designed to leave nothing behind in the body, thus restoring the vessel more naturally over time, which cannot be achieved with a permanent drug eluting stent."

Last year, Abbott announced positive one-year clinical results from ABSORB II, the world's first prospective, randomized, controlled trial comparing the safety and effectiveness of Absorb to XIENCE. At one year, overall clinical outcomes for Absorb were comparable to XIENCE. The trial, conducted primarily in Europe, included 501 people with CAD.