Overweight individuals who have been thinking of undergoing a gastric bypass surgery to help lose extra weight now have a non-invasive option. Allurion has come up with a gastric balloon pill to help combat obesity.
Some doctors may have recommended a gastric bypass surgery to their obese patients to help them lose unwanted pounds. A few patients may even feel apprehensive over the medical procedure since it involves going under a knife. However, Allurion's flagship product called Elipse can help to address the said concerns in a non-invasive way, Tech Crunch reports.
The Boston-based company's Elipse is a pill that, when ingested, expands into a gastric balloon inside a patient's stomach. The said gastric balloon inflates after around 15 minutes from the time the Elipse pill was swallowed. The gastric balloon then stays in the patient's stomach for four months. The said time period may be sufficient for some obese persons to lose weight and shed unwanted fats from the body. After the four-month period, the gastric balloon will open up. The balloon is then naturally excreted from the body.
Allurion's Elipse pill is already available in Europe, as stated in the same report. The company is also planning to launch its non-invasive gastric balloon pill in the U.S. It has even been slated for release in Kuwait soon. Currently, Allurion is coordinating with the U.S. FDA to gain approval for Elipse. Clinical trials for the said pill will also be conducted in the U.S. in 2017 to support the company's request for FDA approval.
Meanwhile, Elipse has recently been awarded by the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) with its Emerging Technology Innovation Award, according to an Allurion press statement posted on Business Wire. An expert panel of gastrointestinal and endoscopic surgeons reportedly voted on Elipse as SAGES' top emerging technology for the year.
Allurion's Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Wecker stated in the press release that the medical community has been searching for innovations such as the Elipse pill to help combat obesity. "Without the cost and invasiveness of surgery, endoscopy and anesthesia, this new option vastly expands access to intragastric balloons," Wecker added.
