It didn't take Abbott Laboratories long to hit the ground running with its newly approved stent.

Abbott (NYSE:ABT - News) has sold its Xience V drug-coated stent in the U.S. since it got the Food and Drug Administration's nod in July. It has already seized a big chunk of the market.

Xience, combined with a private-label version called Promus, grabbed about half the drug-coated stent market in its first two months on the market, says Chief Financial Officer Thomas Freyman.

"That's a very rapid and significant uptake of the product," he said.

Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX - News) sells Promus, made by Abbott. Abbott gets 40% of the profit on each sale.

Abbott had originally forecast that Xience, alone, would grab a 25% to 30% market share about one year after the launch.

"It's very likely we'll reach that level well before the end of this year and be in a leadership position by year-end," Freyman said.

Stents are devices used to prop open coronary arteries that have been narrowed or weakened.

High Hopes

Drug-coated stents are metal stents coated with a drug and special coating that disseminates the drug into the artery over time to keep it open when it threatens to close or get clogged.

Abbott had high hopes for Xience from the start. On measures of effectiveness, the product showed "superior performance" against the market-leading stent in clinical trials, Freyman says.

But the pace at which doctors have adopted the new technology and their rapid uptake of the stent in the first two months have topped expectations, he adds.

"The ability to deliver the stent efficiently into the vascular system when there are closures caused by heart disease, and the superior effectiveness of the device have combined to deliver a very successful launch," Freyman said.

Xience is the fourth drug-coated stent to sell in the U.S. market. It was approved in Europe in late 2006 and has since gotten the green light in many other countries.

Japan is the remaining large market where Xience has yet to gain approval. Freyman expects that to happen in the second half of 2009.

Analyst Larry Biegelsen of Wachovia Capital Markets pegs Xience's share of Europe's drug-coated stent market at over 20%.

"The uptake in Europe was slower than most expected because of safety concerns with drug-coated stents," Biegelsen said. "Xience was the new kid on the block, and doctors were reluctant to use it because it didn't have much long-term safety data."

Now we have more long-term data on Xience. So doctors in the U.S. are more comfortable using it and the uptake has moved faster, adds Biegelsen.

He expects Xience and Promus to account for 2.6% of Abbott's total sales this year and 3.8% of earnings. By 2011, combined sales should rise to 5% of total sales and 7.4% of profit.

Overall, drug-coated stents are used in about 70% of procedures in the U.S. vs. bare-metal stents with 30%, Freyman says. Abbott is the U.S. market leader in the bare-metal stent category with a roughly 60% share, he says.

The company has a broad portfolio of vascular devices. In 2007, its vascular segment posted sales of $1.7 billion, or 6.4% of the company's total.

One promising new device Abbott is developing is a bioabsorable stent. It has the drug and coating, but the stent itself is made of polylactic acid.

The potential advantage is that over a period of time the stent dissolves and is absorbed by the body, Freyman says, so there is no bare-metal stent left behind.

Abbott is the only company with a bioabsorbable stent in clinical trials, according to Freyman.

But Abbott's biggest growth driver is Humira, says Biegelsen.

The blockbuster drug targets autoimmune disorders. The drug, which is injected, has FDA approval to treat a number of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and plaque psoriasis.

Humira, which is approved in 76 countries, is Abbott's biggest seller and the largest product in the company's history. Abbott forecasts Humira sales of more than $4.3 billion this year, up from $3.1 billion last year.

Biegelsen estimates that Humira's sales will jump to $8.3 billion by 2012.

"Humira has very good clinical data and is rapidly gaining share globally," Freyman said. "It should be a very high-growth product for us for many years to come."

But Abbott doesn't want for fast growers. Abbott is a very broad-based health care company with a number of growth drivers, Freyman says.

Over the past few years, Chief Executive Miles White has made a number of strategic buys that have propelled gains and brought on major products.

Humira came to Abbott through the 2001 acquisition of Knoll Pharmaceuticals.

And the 2006 purchase of the vascular and endovascular businesses of the former Guidant Corp. delivered Xience.

Also in 2006, Abbott bought Kos Pharmaceuticals, which boosted Abbott's cholesterol franchise.

Abbott is enjoying fast growth from its cholesterol drugs, including TriCor, Freyman says.

It's awaiting approval for a next- generation TriCor, called TriLipix. It would reduce triglyceride levels and raise good cholesterol, or HDL.