The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "Heart attacks below the belt," also known as peripheral artery disease (PAD), account for $21 billion a year in hospitalizations, according to a recent University of Minnesota study funded by drugmakers Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb. "More than 8 million Americans suffer from PAD -- a number that's expected to rise as baby boomers age. Treatments range from drugs to surgery to stents that prop open clogged arteries, as well as lasers and drills that bust up hardened plaque." Given the complex nature of PAD treatment, the market for related medical technology is estimated at $3.4 billion, according to an industry analyst - "one of the most-promising in medical technology." Companies are scrambling "to prove their product is the best treatment in the wake of escalating health care costs and the advent of health care reform, which calls for more comparative-effectiveness research" (Moore, 10/21).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.