Medical device major Boston Scientific Corporation BSX recently unveiled positive outcome from the Post Approval Clinical Trial Evaluating Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT) in Severe Persistent Asthma (PAS2) study. The evaluation confirmed that BT procedure performed with Boston Scientific’s Alair System reduces complications in adult patients with severe persistent asthma. The dataset was presented at the American Thoracic Society Conference in Washington, DC.

Asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of breathlessness, currently affects more than 25 million people and approximately 10% of the cases are considered severe. For patients with severe asthma, even the highest dose of standard medications may not alleviate the risk of frequent and life-threatening asthma attacks. Management claims that BT is an established treatment that can transform the lives of people with severe asthma.

Meanwhile, for the last one month, Boston Scientific has been performing reasonably well in terms of price. The company’s share price has been trading above the Zacks categorized Medical - Products industry for the last three months. The stock has gained 4.2%, as compared with the broader industry’s decline of 3.2%. We expect the latest BT data to enhance Boston Scientific’s Endoscopy business prospects and boost its share price.

Coming back to the news, PAS2 is an open-label study on 284 patients at 27 sites in the U.S. and Canada. Asthma patients showed significant clinical improvement that continued for two years following BT treatment.

The findings of the PAS2 study offer important real-world evidence that patients with poorly controlled severe asthma on high doses of medications, including biologics, experience significant and sustained improvement in asthma control following BT. These results reaffirm previously published data from randomized controlled studies and demonstrate that BT delivered by the Alair System is both safe and effective for treating severe asthma.

Notably, the Alair System for BT got the U.S. FDA approval back in 2010. It is the first non-pharmacologic, device-based treatment for severe asthma treatment. The system delivers controlled thermal energy to the airway wall to reduce the amount of excess smooth muscle tissue in the airway. This helps in curtailing severe asthma attacks and making breathing easier. 

As per a recent Allied Market Research report, the global asthma devices market is expected to reach a worth $34.3 billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 4.5%. Thus, Boston Scientific is making consistent efforts to manufacture devices to address the growing demand in this market.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Boston Scientific currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the broader medical sector are Luminex Corporation LMNX, Inogen, Inc. INGN and Edwards Lifesciences, Inc. EW. Notably, Luminex and Inogen sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Edwards Lifesciences carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Luminex has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of almost 16.3%. The stock added roughly 7.0% over the last three months.

Inogen has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 17.5%. The stock has a solid one-year return of around 82%.

Edwards Lifesciences has an expected long-term adjusted earnings growth of almost 16% (last 3–5 years of actual earnings). The stock added roughly 14.8% over the last three months.

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