Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Xtent Inc. (XTNT) is a development-stage medical device company focused on developing and commercializing its proprietary Custom NX drug eluting stent (DES) Systems to treat coronary artery disease (CAD). We have recently downgraded the stock to a Sell.
The company is most likely to go into liquidation in the next few months. The company’s fundamentals have disappeared and there is virtually nothing left for investors. The company has been burning cash each quarter and has roughly $12 million remaining at the end of first quarter of 2009.
The company received CE mark approval for the CUSTOM NX DES System recently but was unable to commercialize it due to its cash crunch. Xtent also completed a large-scale headcount reduction with only six full-time employees remaining at the end of the first quarter.
Xtent primarily focuses on its development efforts to create Custom NX DES Systems, which allow a physician to deploy single or multiple stents of customizable lengths with a single device.
Coronary artery disease is the most common form of cardiovascular disease and a major cause of death in the U.S. and Europe. It is primarily caused by the accumulation of plaque in the arteries leading to the heart. Eventually, the buildup of plaque may reduce or stop blood flow. A reduction in blood flow to the heart can cause chest pain, a heart attack or potentially death.
According to the American Heart Association, CAD accounts for over 650,000 annual deaths and affects over 13 million people in the U.S. A number of surgical procedures and interventional therapies, such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), balloon angioplasty and bare-metal stents have been developed to treat CAD through quick and safe restoration of the blood flow. The most innovative minimally invasive therapy was drug eluting stents which have attempted to overcome restenosis (reblockage of the artery).
The coronary and peripheral stent industry that Xtent operates in is highly competitive. Competitors include several large, diversified eluting stent companies and numerous smaller niche companies. Xtent primarily competes with Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Boston Scientific (BSX), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Medtronic (MDT).
Xtent recently postponed the special meeting of its stockholders to discuss its plan of complete liquidation and dissolution. The meeting which was initially scheduled for July 9, will now take place on August 3 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Read the full analyst report on “XTNT”
Read the full analyst report on “ABT”
Read the full analyst report on “BSX”
Read the full analyst report on “JNJ”
Read the full analyst report on “MDT”
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