Xtent, medical device company priced IPO at $16, trades at $17

The Menlo Park, Calif. stent maker, Xtent, opened trading today at $16.15 a share, slightly above its initial public offering price of $16. By mid-day, it was trading at $17.

Xtent sold 4.7 million shares at the low end of its expected $16 to $18 price range, set by underwriters.

Xtent’s stent, still in development, is designed to treat coronary artery disease, the biggest cause of death in the United States.

A stent is a small, tube of latticed metal wires that is inserted into an artery to help hold it open so blood can flow through it. Drug-eluting stents contain drugs that potentially reduce the chance the arteries will become blocked again.
Xtent said its drug-eluting stent systems are designed so physicians can customize the length and diameter of the stent at the site of the diseased section of the artery or lesion.