Drug-delivery endovascular stent and method for treating restenosis

A method of producing a radially expandable, endovascular stent designed for placement at a site of vascular injury, for inhibiting restenosis at the site, comprising

• applying a substantially polymer-free, liquid composition of an anti-restenosis drug to a radially expandable stent body formed of one or more metallic filaments defining an outer surface, and having attached thereto, a liquid-infusible mechanical anchoring layer having an average thickness of at least 3 μm,
• in an amount sufficient to infuse the composition into said anchoring layer, to form a drug coating substratum within the layer, and to form over the substratum, a substantially continuous surface stratum of drug,
• wherein the rate of release of the anti-restenosis drug from the surface stratum into said site of vascular injury is determined solely by the composition of said drug coating.

A method for achieving an effective rate of release of an anti-restenosis drug from a radially expandable stent placed within a vessel at a vascular site of injury, comprising

• bringing the vessel in contact with a substantially continuous, substantially polymer-free surface drug coating containing at least about 90 weight percent of an anti-restenosis drug, wherein the rate of release of the anti-restenosis drug from the coating is determined solely by the composition of the drug coating, and the anti-restenosis drug has the structure:
• where (i) R is H, a linear or branched short-chain alkyl, alkyl alcohol, alkyl ether or aldal group containing no more than ten carbon atoms.