Could This Startup’s Stomach Balloon Technology Help People Lose Weight?

The old adage goes that there is no pill that can help you lose weight

Perhaps until now. Allurion, a Wellesley-based startup, is progressing its stomach balloon technology in the U.S., with the help of $6 million of recent funding.

The company’s technology, known as Elipse, is a balloon that comes inside a capsule. A patient would swallow the capsule while still attached to a thin tube. Once it reaches the stomach, a doctor or nurse would fill the balloon with a liquid through the tube.

The filling takes approximately six minutes, at which time the tube is removed through the mouth.

“The whole office visit takes 20 minutes,” said Shantanu Gaur, co-founder and chief scientific officer for Allurion. “We don’t use the word patient, we call them customers. There is no sedation or anesthesia.”

The 500 milliliter-size balloon stays in the stomach for four months, leading patients to eat less because they feel fuller. Gaur said after four months, part of the balloon disintegrates and is passed through the bowels.

The device is intended for users with a body mass index of 27 and higher. Obesity is a BMI of 30 or higher, with overweight individuals starting at a BMI of 25.

Two trials, one with eight people and one with 34 people, have shown that the average person loses 10 percent of their body weight using the device. Mild side effects including nausea or vomiting in the first few days of having the balloon, but no serious adverse effects were reported.

The company has received European clearance and sales have begun in the U.K., France and Italy. Soon, commercial sales will begin in Kuwait and parts of the Middle East.

Conversations are ongoing with the Food and Drug Administration to create a study necessary to commercialize the device in the U.S., according to Gaur. He estimates that the study will begin next year.

Backing the technology is $17 million that the 20-person company has fundraised to date, including the most recent $6 million funding round. Investors have included a number of angel investors, a loan from the Mass Life Sciences Center, and Romulus Capital.

Another funding round is expected to take place later this year.

Allurion has many competitors in the obesity market, as companies rush to address an epidemic that affects more than 35 percent of adults in the U.S. Other companies have stomach balloon technology, but those are delivered via endoscopy and usually involve some level of sedation. Gaur said his device avoids those risks.

Gaur said Allurion had looked at using hydrogels when they first started the company, but found a balloon was an already tested device and was a more permanent solution in the stomach to helping patients feel full.

“It’s been studied for decades,” Gaur said. “It’s well known its safe and causes weight loss. Tens of thousands of customers have had balloons in their stomachs. We’re replicating that but making the placement and removal more cost effective, easier and comfortable for the consumer.”

Source: Boston Business Journal, Jessica Bartlett
Photo: The Allurion obesity balloon comes in a swallowable capsule that is then filled while in the stomach. (Zack Williamson, WilliamsonVisuals.com)