United Kingdom to Keep Paying for Drug-Exuding Stents

KEITH J. WINSTEIN writes:

The United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, or NICE, will keep its existing recommendations on the cost-effectiveness of drug-coated stents, according to people familiar with the matter.

Stents are tiny scaffolds that prop open clogged arteries. Last year, the agency opined in draft recommendations that the fanciest stents -- those coated with drugs to keep arteries from reclogging -- weren't worth the extra cost.

The reversal is good news for coated-stent manufacturers...