Sat, Aug-02-08, 08:37
|
|
Bigger than ever :(
Posts: 537
|
|
Plan: Keto
Stats: 464/280/200
BF:
Progress: 70%
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
|
|
Obesity Treatments That Don't Require Invasive Surgery
Quote:
New York--While millions of Americans suffer from obesity, only a handful opt for potentially life saving surgery.
With fears over the impact surgery will have on their anatomy, drastic dietary changes required with surgery and the costs associated with many procedures, people suffering from obesity are left with few options. A handful of companies are aiming to fix that with treatments that aren’t invasive and don’t require an overhaul of one's life.
“Patients need help,” said John Morton, director of Bariatric Surgery and an associate professor at Stanford School of Medicine. “Diet and exercise fails 95% of the time.”
The new treatments, most of which are still in clinical trials, have piqued the interest of venture capitalists. According to Dow Jones VentureSource, a unit of News Corp., parent of FOXBusiness.com, companies focused on obesity raised $230.53 million last year.
One company that has gone a round with venture capitalists and is now public is EnteroMedics (ETRM: 3.90, -0.20, -4.87%), the St. Paul, Minn., medical-device company that is in clinical trials for its VBLOC Therapy.
The VBLOC Therapy uses a high-frequency, low-voltage modulation device that sends a signal through laparscopically implanted leads attached to the vagal nerve, telling the brain the patient is no longer hungry.
The device has two leads attached to each side of the vagal nerve and a modulator device implanted in the skin. Patients wear an external coil and battery pack around their waste which sends the signal through the body. The signal is delivered through the waking hours and is off when a patient is sleeping.
Greg Lea, chief financial officer at EnteroMedics said the VBLOC Therapy not only makes patients less hungry, but they feel fuller for longer periods of time because it delays the gastric digestive emptying process. The procedure, which is being tested with 300 patients around the world, takes 90 minutes to implant, with the leads able to stay in the patient indefinitely with no risks.
Twelve-month data of the VBLOC has shown patients nearly immediately feel full and have less caloric intake. Patients using the device for 12 months have lost 29.1% excess body weight, said Lea. While wearing a coil and battery back may seem cumbersome, Lea said EnteroMedics hasn’t received any complaints. The company is working on a version that wouldn’t require the coil or battery pack.
According to Lea, what makes EnteroMedics’ product unique is there aren’t any side effects if patients eat too much food or the wrong kinds. He said that with the Lap-Band System, which is a band that’s fastened around the upper stomach to create a smaller stomach pouch, many patients get sick if they eat too fast or eat the wrong food. Not to mention the treatment is reversible, simply by turning off the device. The company expects VBLOC to cost between $20,000 and $25,000, which Lea said is cheaper than gastric bypass which costs between $30,000 and $35,000. EnteroMedics’ is aiming for a commercial launch in mid-2010.
“What consumers told us is they want help with weight loss but want to maintain control,” said Mark Stultz, vice president market development and reimbursement
GI Dynamics, the Lexington, Mass.-based medical-device company is developing the EndoBarrier Gastrointestinal Barrier Liner, which is a less-invasive treatment for obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.
In essence the device is a two-foot-long tubular liner that is placed into the first part of a patient’s small intestine. The procedure takes 30 minutes and can be removed in 10 minutes. When a patient eats food, the food goes into the stomach and then passes into the EndoBarrier. The food does not come into contact with the intestinal wall creating a mechanical bypass.
Patients with the device eat less, feel full and are able to lose weight. Patients with Type 2 diabetes see their diabetes resolved because the treatment mimics the same hormonal changes made with gastric bypass. Jonathan Hartmann, vice president of sales and marketing at GI Dynamics, said studies have shown over the past few years that 85% of Type 2 Diabetes patients that have gastric bypass are cured or see their Type 2 diabetes go into remission.
At American Diabetes Association meeting in June, GI Dynamics presented six-month data on the EndoBarrier’s effect on diabetes and showed that within in one week patients had a normalized blood-glucose tolerance. As for weight loss, through clinical studies with 115 patients in South America, Europe and in the U.S., there’s been 20% excess weight loss in three months and 30% excess weight loss in six months. The company is evaluating the impact over a year.
While GI Dynamics hasn’t worked out pricing for the EndoBarrier, Hartmann said it will likely be in the $6,000 to $7,000 range for the entire procedure. Bariatric surgery costs around $25,000.
“There are 70 million people in the U.S. that are obese and 20 million that are candidates for surgery. Yet, 200,000 or 1% in the country have surgery,” said Hartmann.
|
I can think of another obesity treatment that doesn't require surgery... low carb.
LINK: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/ma...vasive-surgery/ |
|
Linear Mode
