I met medical device inventor Peter Harris yesterday. He invented LapProx™, a device for Laparoscopic Gastric Plication.

Peter taught me as much about laparoscopy as one can learn over a lunch at the Mongolian Grill.

I’ll try to hit the highlights, here in bullet-point fashion.

The market

• The American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery states surgery is the best solution for morbid obesity.
• Adoption is less than one percent of candidates for surgery.
  By the numbers: 119 million (US addressable market), 228,000 surgeries between 2011 and 2017.
• Therefore, patients don’t want, can’t afford, or can’t access the surgery.

The problem

• This: “Reoperation after Bariatric Surgery: Still a Devastating Complication,” J. Amer. College of Surgeons. October 2015
• And this: Medicare paid $470 million for laparoscopic gastric band associated procedures, of which $224 million [1/4 Billion] (47.6%) of the payments were for reoperations. JAMA Surg. 2017 Sep 1;152(9):835-842
• Peter says today’s common procedures (laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, bypass obesity surgery, esophageal sleeve gastroplasty) require high surgical skill and represent higher patient risk.

Peter’s solution

• Peter’s Laparoscopic Gastric Plication (LAGP) surgical method was invented by him and, concurrently and separately, by an Iranian doctor, M. Talebpour, MD. (Talebpour has since performed thousands of these surgeries, manually plicating (stapling) tissue.)
• “In 92% of patients, LAGP resulted in remission of Type II Diabetes, and significantly decreased fasting blood sugar.” Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders 14(1) – July 2015
• Peter’s LapProx device simply substitutes the time-consuming plication process with an easy-to-use device.

Now if only someone would fund and make it.

I’m no expert, but this seems like a good idea to me. The invention is protected by nine patents. Do you know a company or investor who would help realize its potential?

If so, check out Peter’s LinkedIn profile and this 19-page presentation. (It contains his contact information.)

And last, here’s a 85-second video of the concept. It’s not for the queasy: It shows proof-of-feasibility in a live pig surgery at the 35-second mark.

 
If you contact Peter, tell him, “Joe sent me.” 😊
 
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Hey, what’re you doing on Thursday?

If you have anything to do with regulatory submissions, I sure hope your answer is “attending your free webinar with Rob Packard.”
Free webinar: How to prepare a 510(k) submission. Thursday, October 25, noon EDT. Yes, sign me up!

As always, if you can’t make the live event, I’ll email you the recordings and slides afterward.
 
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Hey, what’re you doing on January 29?

If you have anything to do with marketing, sales, or business development, I sure hope your answer is “attending 10x for Sales and Marketing in Orlando with you, Joe.”

I hope to complete the agenda by this time next week but you can still apply to speak or sponsor it.

For that matter, you can apply to speak for our May event, the 10x Medical Device Conference, and/or our October event, 10x for Design and Manufacturing, too.

We record and professionally edit the sessions. You can use the footage however you see fit. I can promise: Your marketing team will love you for it.

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Jobs for Hire: Click for details.

And this one, just in: Project Manager, Medical Laser Product Development for Aerolase in Tarrytown, NY. I met their Director of Strategy at an investment conference a few years back; I was very impressed with the concept. (I would have invested, but Beth said no.)

Hiring managers, one more week! List your opportunities for just $39 at https://medgroup.biz/jobs before month’s end (promo code OCTOBER). Prices go up November 1.

Candidates, search medical device jobs and sign up for job alerts at https://medgroup.biz/jobs.

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Discussions You May Have Missed

Ask your question at medicaldevicesgroup.net/question/add.

Juan Ángel Gracia, García has a question about European regulations when active ingredients are highly concentrated.

Clément Vallois, Project leader at Fresenius Kabi, asks, “Finished good article codes”

Tanguy Van Regemorter, General Manager at Manetco – Materials and New Technologies Company, has a question about, “Importance of anti-adherence or hydrophobicity for medical device applications?”

Christian Costantini, Regional Sales Manager Americas at Redax Spa/Maclin Power, Inc, asks you “Who provides market intelligence services for the medical device industry?”

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Thank you for being part of our Medical Devices Group community!

Make it a great week.

Joe Hage
Medical Devices Group Leader

P.S. A call for speakers (apply here): Our 10x for SALES and MARKETING will be January 29-30 in Orlando, FL. Medical device marketing is my turf so I can guarantee robust, interactive learning. I’m teaching a 6-hour workshop there on January 28th. Learn more.