Although first-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) have markedly reduced restenosis, complications of late and very late in-stent thrombosis have emerged as prime limitations to this technology. The development of new DES is a key process to prevent these complications. Translational research plays a very important role in experiments which determine the safety and efficacy of DES before human clinical trials. The present review focuses on translational research of novel DES, including drug discovery, creation of preclinical research models, planning and conducting of first-in-man studies, and developing next-generation DES systems.