Patent ID: 7901451

Claim:
A radially expandable, endovascular stent designed for placement at a site of vascular injury, for inhibiting restenosis at the site, comprising a radially expandable body formed of one or more metallic filaments defining an outer surface, attached to or formed in said outer surface, a liquid-infusible mechanical anchoring layer having an average thickness of at least 3 μm, and a drug coating composed of a substantially polymer-free composition of an anti-restenosis drug, and having a substratum infused in said anchoring layer, for retaining said coating on the stent body when the stent is radially expanded at the site of vascular injury, and a substantially continuous surface stratum of drug that is brought into direct contact with the vessel walls at said site by such radial expansion, wherein the rate of release of the anti-restenosis drug from the surface stratum into said vascular site is determined solely by the composition of said drug coating, and wherein the substratum of the drug coating constitutes no more than about 25 weight percent of said drug coating.