Merck has posted its financial returns for the 2010 fourth quarter and the fiscal year 2010, recording a net drop in net income, partly due to charges related to its struggling antiplatelet drug vorapaxar.

Edwards Lifesciences, which develops heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring, has reported a decrease in its net income for the 2010 fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, 2010, despite posting increases in net sales and income during the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with the previous year's last quarter.

Abiomed has narrowed its net losses, partily due to strong sales of Impella in the third quarter of 2011, which ended Dec. 31, 2010.

A standard dose of prasugrel led to greater platelet inhibition and response profiles in type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease (CAD) patients when compared with a double-dose of clopidogrel, the OPTIMUS-3 trial published online Jan. 20 in the European Heart Journal found.

Eli Lilly has reported double-digit growth in net income for the fourth quarter and full year of 2010, which ended Dec. 31. The company saw single-digit gains in revenue for the same two time periods, mainly due to higher prices.

Due to recent highly publicized controversies of alleged over-stenting, state and federal authorities have begun to question the peer review process in cath labs. As a result, professional societies are exploring a new accreditation process, but some providers fear the time and costs that this could entail.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has reported a decrease in net income for the fourth quarter and 2010 fiscal year, despite increases in net sales.

A data analysis of more than 45,000 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery over the past 30 years finds that the occurrence of stroke after CABG has declined, despite an increase in risk profiles of patients, according to a single-center observational study in the Jan. 26 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.