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Recently, Medtronic has entered into a pilot partnership agreement with Allurion, a leading mechanical company in the weight loss field, according to Business Wire.
In the agreement, Medtronic will be the sales agent for Allurion's weight loss balloon products and the Iris artificial intelligence (AI) platform in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMA) for the next 12 months.
It is understood that in 2022, Allurion has launched a weight loss balloon sales program in Canada, Mexico, India, Australia and Brazil, and this partnership will further advance the balloon's global expansion initiatives.
For Medtronic, this signing to distribute Allurion products is an important assessment for Medtronic to ramp up the weight loss track, and once the results are satisfactory, the layout of the weight loss field may be one of Medtronic's future key development directions.
For Allurion, in terms of product distribution reach, as Dr. Shantanu Gaur, founder and CEO of Allurion, said, "Medtronic has excellent distribution capabilities in a number of different channels, and working with them will expand the reach of our weight loss program and help strengthen our base business. "
In terms of the future value of the product, Gaur added that the partnership will also accelerate the Iris AI platform as a standalone product, simplifying the management of patients undergoing bariatric surgery and potentially improving outcomes, further strengthening Allurion's position as a leader in artificial intelligence and weight management.
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It's worth noting that Medtronic and Allurion have more to offer than just this partnership.
Back in February, Allurion announced its intention to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (SPAC) in a few months through a merger with Compute Health, in which Medtronic is an investor.
In addition, former Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak, who chairs SPAC's board of directors, and former GE CEO Jeff Immelt participated in the agreement.
In other words, once Allurion is successfully launched, the two companies will maintain a long-term partnership.
So, what makes allurion so good that it is favored by big players like Medtronic and GE?
1) Backed by a top leadership team: Formed by talent from Harvard and Yale
Let's look at a set of figures: Allurion's revenues for 2020, 2021 and 2022 will be $20 million (about RMB 140 million), $38 million (about RMB 270 million) and $64 million (about RMB 460 million), respectively.
During the three years of global economic weakness, Allurion, a non-epidemic related industry, has doubled its performance year after year, following the current company's strategy formulation, and moreover, thanks to its excellent team genes.
Allurion was founded in 2009 by Shantanu Gaur and Samuel Levy, with Shantanu Gaur as CEO, both of whom have PhDs from Harvard Medical School, one of the world's top institutions, and Samuel Levy, who studied at Yale University during his bachelor's degree;
In addition to Shantanu Gaur and Samuel Levy, the company's third core figure, Michael Davin, has a long history of building one of the largest and most profitable companies in the aesthetics industry, Cynosure, which was sold to Hologic in March 2017 for $1.65 billion (approximately RMB 11.9 billion).
2) Weight Loss Devices Breakthrough Paradigm: "Reversible" and "Swallowable"
Worldwide, 2 billion adults are overweight and 650 million are obese. Obesity among children and adolescents has increased tenfold in the last four decades.
Yet most existing weight loss programs are not achieving the desired results: 76% of patients are not fully satisfied with their diet plan and 65% are concerned about complications associated with more invasive techniques.
And Allurion is tapping into this blue ocean market by offering the world's first full-stack weight loss platform.
At the heart of the platform is the Allurion program, which combines the world's first and only swallowable, procedure-free bariatric gastric balloon ("Allurion Balloon"), a proprietary behavior change program and a virtual care suite ( "VCS"), an artificial intelligence ("AI")-driven digital therapy and remote patient monitoring solution.
Overall weight loss (TBLL) following Allurion intragastric balloon therapy ranges from 6-15%, depending on the balloon and type of treatment regimen. In addition, studies have shown that patients who undergo intragastric balloon surgery can achieve approximately 50% of their target weight loss within the first month after the procedure.
With the Allurion VCS, providers can securely send messages to patients, conduct virtual telemedicine visits, and remotely monitor patient performance through AI-driven analytics that integrate data from the Allurion app, Connected Scale and Health Tracker.
Through the Allurion app, patients can access Allurion's proprietary behavior change program, a library of more than 150 weight loss actions related to diet, nutrition, mental health, sleep and goal setting, in more than 15 languages.
With our extensive experience at the intersection of healthcare, technology and data, we see Allurion as a breakthrough platform that can address one of the world's largest unmet medical needs," said Omar Ishrak, chairman of Compute Health, which will soon merge with Allurion to go public. "
3) Outstanding risk cost control: 10x average reduction in non-performing events
Unlike the high cost and risk of side effects associated with weight loss medications, Allurion balloons have demonstrated a favorable safety profile with very few serious adverse events.
The swallowable gastric balloon with Allurion eliminates the need for surgery, endoscopy or anesthesia, making it a less invasive and safer option.
There are many benefits to choosing a non-surgical weight loss method such as gastric ballooning. First, a major advantage is the reduced risk associated with invasive bariatric surgery and the attendant hospitalization costs. While the initial cost of the procedure may seem high, it may ultimately be a cost-effective solution when compared to the ongoing costs of managing obesity-related health conditions.
In addition, gastric balloons are reversible, which means they can be removed at any time without the need for major surgery. Unlike surgery, gastric balloons are designed to be temporary. They do not change the shape or size of the patient's stomach, nor do they result in any permanent changes to the patient's body.
Placement takes about 15 minutes during an outpatient visit. After approximately four months, the patented ReleaseValve™ opens, allowing the balloon to empty and be expelled naturally. The patient does not need to return to the doctor to have the balloon removed.
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Johnson, Boston Scientific and others have entered the game. Weight loss track ushered in the first year of industrialization?
In February 2023, the "Bariatric Metabolic Surgery Standardization and Quality Improvement Project", initiated by the Institute of Hospital Management of the National Health and Wellness Commission and supported by Johnson & Johnson Medical Technology, was officially launched.
As a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Axiomtek Endoscopic Surgery provides surgical equipment for open and minimally invasive procedures in the fields of bariatric, gastrointestinal health, gynecological and surgical oncology.
In April 2023, Mass Device reported that Boston Scientific announced the completion of the acquisition of Apollo Endosurgery (hereinafter: Apollo) for up to $615 million (approximately $4.2 billion).
Apollo is said to be a leader in bariatric endoscopy, with a portfolio of devices used during endoluminal surgery (ELS) to repair gastrointestinal defects, manage gastrointestinal complications and help obese patients lose weight.
So will Medtronic's partnership with Allurion bring new surprises to the weight loss circuit? Will there be more giants joining in the future? We will keep watching.
