Over the Edge. Cypher Stent Commercial Goes Too Far

There I sat watching Brett Favre and my beloved Green Bay Packers getting stomped by the Dallas Cowboys (so my BP is already high) and what do my eyes behold at the commercial break? Why none other than Cordis Corporation running a commercial touting their Cypher stent. The message being delivered while the band Guster is belting out its tune "C'mon" in the background is "If you have narrowed arteries that are limiting your activity, go see your doctor about getting a Cypher stent to open up those bad boys." What is most galling is their new slogan, "Life Wide Open." Yeah for about six months until your sirolimus-eluting stent produces another case of late stent thrombosis or the artery plugs up further down the line.

Nevermind that the COURAGE trial said drug and lifestyle changes are just as or more effective. Nevermind that stents DO NOT reduce your risk of having a heart attack or reduce the underlying disease that caused your arteries to narrow. Nevermind that stent insertion is a surgical procedure with significant risk of its own. Never mind that sirolimus-eluting stents have increased risk of stent thrombosis and you have to take Plavix for six months as a precaution (which has its own increased bleeding risks). Nevermind that relying exclusively on stents means you will likely need another and then another before your untimely death. No, go right out and have your doctor cut a hole in your side and snake our product into your heart all in the name of a short-term fix.

What Cordis (a Johnson and Johnsn Company) is doing is UNCONSCIONABLE! We already have unscrupulous cardiologists running "cath factories." Now Cordis is egging on heart disease sufferers to pester their doctors to put more stents in and being disingenuous in the process by not telling the whole story. Tough shit if there are better ways to manage heart disease. We only make money when stents are used.

Stents are for acute situations. There are better, safer, and more effective ways to reduce stable angina than surgical intervention. Shame on Cordis for playing the "quick fix" card and putting profits ahead of patient well-being. Perhaps they should watch this commercial.



Or this one!



Just when ya think you've seen it all!

HeartHawk