The present invention relates to tubular stent and drug delivery systems. The stent has a cylindrical shape defining a longitudinal axis and includes a helical section having of a plurality of longitudinally oriented strut members and a plurality of circumferentially oriented hinge members connecting circumferentially adjacent strut members to form a band. The band is wrapped about the longitudinal axis in a substantially helical manner to form a plurality of helical windings. The helical section further includes a proximal section, a distal section and an intermediate section, wherein the band forming the proximal and distal sections has members with a first width at coincident points along the band length, and the band forming the intermediate section has members with a second width greater than the first width at coincident points along the band length. The wider width in the intermediate section functionally separates the helical section into two subsections.
