A panel at Cleveland Clinic’s Medical Innovations Summit focused on five companies developing innovative obesity-fighting medical devices that have yet to hit the market. The companies that participated were “handpicked” by Philip Schauer, director of the Clinic’s Bariatric and Metabolic Institute, who moderated the discussion. Here’s a list of the companies and brief descriptions of their devices.
- BaroSense — The Redwood City, California, company’s TERIS cup-like device “partitions” a patient’s stomach to create a feeling of satiety. It’s implanted with a trans-oral procedure, held in place by “proprietary anchoring technology” and can be removed if a patient no longer needs it, CEO Daniel Balbierz said.
- IntraPace — The Mountain View, California, company’s “abiliti” device uses gastric stimulation to create a feeling of fullness in patients. The device employs a sensor in the patient’s stomach to detect eating or drinking, which then prompts the system to deliver electrical impulses to the stomach.
- ReShape Medical — The company’s device consists of two balloons connected by a flexible tube. The balloons are placed in the stomach using an endoscope and are designed to create a feeling of fullness in patients. The device is intended to be removed after about 6 months. The balloons are filled with blue dye that’s designed to alert a patient of deflation by producing blue urine, according to the San Clemente, California-based company. Talk of blue urine drew the largest reaction out of the just-before-lunch crowd that attended the discussion.
- Satiety — The company that’s furthest along in both the clinical and regulatory processes, Satiety has developed the “TOGA System,” which involves stapling the tissue at the top of the stomach to create a “sleeve” that restricts the stomach’s size. Palo Alto, California-based Satiety has raised about $90 million over the last 10 years and plans to seek commercialization approval by the end of the year from the Food and Drug Administration, CEO Eric Reuter said. If all goes well, the device could hit the market sometime next year.
- ValenTx — The company’s device aims to mimic gastric bypass surgery without surgery, CEO James Wright said. The device uses a sleeve that’s implanted through the mouth and into the stomach to restrict the stomach’s volume.
