Abbott's drug-coated heart stent wins OK

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories Inc's drug-coated heart stent Xience became the latest entry to a U.S. market hit by safety concerns, winning approval on Wednesday.

Xience, which will launch immediately, joins a multibillion-dollar market that includes devices sold by Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific and Medtronic Inc.

Shares of Abbott were up 1.6 percent in extended trading following news of the approval from their $54.24 close on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Xience stent will compete with Medtronic's Endeavor, J&J's Cypher and Boston Scientific's Taxus stents. Boston Scientific also has rights to sell Xience under a private label as part of a deal with Abbott.

Stents are tiny wire mesh tubes used to prop open arteries that have been cleared of blockages. Drug-coated versions are designed to help prevent vessels from reclogging.

But recent concerns that drug-coated stents can also trigger potentially deadly blood clots in some patients, months after the devices are implanted, have dented the once $6 billion-a-year global market.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Tim Dobbyn)