Biodegradable Polymer-Based Sirolimus-Eluting Stents With Differing Elution and Absorption Kinetics: The PANDA III Trial

Whether the rate of drug elution and polymer absorption affects clinical outcomes of biodegradable polymer-based drug-eluting stents (DES) is unknown. The widely used polylactide polymer-based Excel stent (JW Medical, Weihai, China) elutes sirolimus within 180 days, and the polylactide polymer is completely absorbed within 6 to 9 months. In contrast, the poly-lactide-co-glycolide polymer-based BuMA stent (Sino Medical, Tianjin, China) elutes sirolimus within 30 days, and the poly-lactide-co-glycolide polymer is completely absorbed within 3 months. Thus, both metallic DES elute sirolimus, isolating major differences to the polymer and elution kinetics. The goal of this study was to compare the safety and effectiveness between the BuMA sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and Excel SES in an "all-comers" population. PANDA III was a multicenter trial with few exclusion criteria, powered for sequential noninferiority and superiority testing. The primary endpoint was 1-year target lesion failure (TLF), a composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization. Between December 2013 and August 2014, 2,348 patients were randomly assigned to treatment with BuMA (n = 1,174) or Excel SES (n = 1,174). The 1-year primary endpoint of TLF occurred in 6.4% of patients in each group (difference: 0.06%; 95% confidence interval: 1.93% to 2.04%; pnoninferiority = 0.0003; psuperiority = 0.95). There were no significant between-group differences in any of the secondary endpoints other than the incidence of definite/probable stent thrombosis, which occurred less frequently with the BuMA stent (0.5% vs. 1.3%; log-rank p = 0.048). The BuMA SES was demonstrated to be noninferior to the Excel SES for 1-year TLF, with a lower incidence of stent thrombosis. (Comparison of BuMA eG Based BioDegradable Polymer Stent With EXCEL Biodegradable Polymer Sirolimus-eluting Stent in "Real-World" Practice [PANDA-III]; NCT02017275).