The State of Statins & Stents (at CNBC)

Leerink Swann, which specializes in healthcare equities research, is out with a couple of noteworthy surveys--one on the collateral damage to Merck and Schering-Plough's Vytorin this week and the other on drug-coated stents from Abbott Labs , Boston Scientific , Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic . Leerink has a medical expert unit called "MEDACorp" that it relies on for ears-to-the-ground, real-world research. In the wake of the study that broke last Monday showing a higher incidence of cancer among patients who took Vytorin, MEDACorp canvassed 100 general practitioners and cardiologists for their reaction to the news. The survey was started Tuesday afternoon, so the news had been out for about 24 hours by that time. 83% of the docs said they hadn't yet heard from patients or, if they did, the inquiries were few and far... [read full story]