May 31, 2002
Guidant's Market-Leading MULTI-LINK PENTA Stent Demonstrates Excellent Clinical Data

Six Month Follow-Up Study Shows 17.5 Percent Binary Restenosis Rate

Indianapolis, Ind. and Santa Clara, Calif. - Guidant Corporation (NYSE and PCX: GDT), a world leader in the treatment of cardiac and vascular disease, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the release of six-month follow-up clinical trial results for Guidant's MULTI-LINK PENTA(tm) Coronary Stent System. The clinical trial, involving 200 patients with de novo (previously untreated) native coronary artery lesions, demonstrated a 17.5 percent binary restenosis rate.

Restenosis is the recurrence of a blockage in a coronary artery that has previously been propped open with a coronary stent, which typically occurs in approximately 20 percent of patients within about six months of the initial procedure.

"The excellent clinical data for Guidant's fifth-generation stent system is the cumulative result of years of progressive technological innovations in stent design, materials, and delivery systems," said John M. Capek, Ph.D., president, Vascular Intervention, Guidant Corporation. "The market-leading MULTI-LINK PENTA, together with Guidant's small-vessel stent, the MULTI-LINK PIXEL(tm) System, has enabled Guidant to exit 2001 with U.S. stent market share approaching 50 percent."

Clinical data reported last week at EuroPCR (Paris Course on Revascularization) suggests that stent and delivery system technology are important in determining the overall performance of drug eluting stents. Guidant supplies components, including the MULTI-LINK PENTA stent, to Cook Incorporated for utilization in the paclitaxel-eluting ACHIEVE(tm) Stent System, currently an investigational device being developed by Cook Incorporated. The ACHIEVE Stent System will be distributed by Guidant.

"The low restenosis rate for the MULTI-LINK PENTA is particularly impressive because it was achieved in lesions that were long and complex," said Dr. Jeffrey Popma of Brigham & Women's Hospital, principal investigator for the study. The mean lesion length was 12.9 mm, which is longer than in previous MULTI-LINK trials. In addition, more than 83 percent of the patients' lesions were of a complex morphology.

Two hundred patients at 13 U.S. and six European clinical sites were treated with MULTI-LINK PENTA stents for de novo native coronary lesions in arteries between 3.0 mm and 4.0 mm in diameter, with a lesion length of up to 25 mm. The final analysis includes clinical follow-up at 30 days and clinical and angiographic follow-up at six months. Results showed a 99 percent procedural success rate, accompanied by a 30-day MACE (Major Adverse Cardiac Event) rate of 1 percent.

Guidant Corporation pioneers lifesaving technology, giving an opportunity for better life today to millions of cardiac and vascular patients worldwide. The company, driven by a strong entrepreneurial culture of more than 10,000 employees, develops, manufactures and markets a broad array of products and services that enable less invasive care for some of life's most threatening medical conditions.