GT Metabolic Solutions, a company that has developed a minimally-invasive incisionless bypass technology, has raised approximately US$15 million in financing from Ceros Capital Markets to complete initial clinical trials for its incisionless duodenal ileal bypass anastomosis for bariatric and metabolic surgery.
GT Metabolic's technology enables incisionless bariatric surgery and involves no cutting, no suturing and no permanent implant, enabling these procedures to move to the outpatient surgical setting. The platform works by creating a delayed anastomosis, a technique that involves the use of magnets to connect the tissue and create an anastomosis in a delayed manner without incision and the risk of creating a leak. The company was co-founded by Thierry Thaure, who has 40 years of experience as a medtech entrepreneur, and pioneer surgeon, Dr Michel Gagner, laparoscopic and bariatric surgeon and the company’s Chief Medical Officer.
"We have developed our platform with the goal of revolutionising bariatric and metabolic surgery. GT's technology enables a new portfolio of procedures that will complement and expand the market,” said Thaure. “We look forward to moving ahead with our clinical trials and in time commercialization of our technology globally."
The open-label, multi-centre study will recruit up to 35 subjects with obesity and with or without type 2 diabetes at five study centres across Canada and Europe who will undergo sleeve gastrectomy (revision or de novo) with side-to-side anastomosis duodeno-ileostomy using the Magnetic Anastomosis System (MAGNET System) and will be followed for 12 months.
Stage 1 of the study will be first-in-human (FIH) and proof-of-concept and include five subjects. There will be a pause after completing enrolment in Stage 1 to allow completion of Day 30 and evaluation of safety by the independent Data Safety Monitoring Committee (DSMB). The DSMB will confirm whether the study can advance to Stage 2, which will include 30 subjects. All subjects in Stage 1 and 2 will be followed for 12 months.
"We believe that GT Metabolic has created game-changing technology for bariatric surgery to help patients struggling with obesity, a growing and expensive epidemic that leads to other serious health conditions. Too few options currently exist for the surgeon today,” said Mark Goldwasser, CEO of Ceros Financial Services. “The company's platform is designed to be safer for the surgeon and patient, and more cost-efficient for the healthcare system."