Dive Brief:
- Allurion, maker of a swallowable gastric balloon designed to facilitate weight loss, said it has partnered with Medtronic in a pilot agreement to distribute the device in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
- The 12-month collaboration intended to expand access to the device enables Allurion to offer the balloon and accelerate use of its Iris artificial intelligence (AI) platform for managing bariatric surgery patients, Natick, Mass.-based Allurion said in a statement.
- The distribution agreement builds on Allurion’s existing relationship with Compute Health, in which Medtronic is an investor.
Dive Insight:
Allurion in February said it planned to go public through a business combination with Compute Health. The merger with Compute Health, whose chairman is former Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak, is expected to value the combined company at about $500 million, Allurion said.
The proposed transaction includes additional equity investments from Ishrak, former GE CEO Jeff Immelt, Leavitt Equity Partners, Naghi Group Vice Chairman Yasser Naghi and existing Allurion investors including Novalis LifeSciences and Segulah Medical Acceleration, according to Allurion.
Allurion CEO Shantanu Gaur co-founded the company in 2009 while at Harvard Medical School and will remain at the post after the business combination, Allurion said. The company, which received a CE mark for the balloon in 2015, generated revenue of $64 million in 2022. Currently, the device isn’t approved in the U.S.
The Allurion system combines the balloon, which the patient swallows without surgery, endoscopy or anesthesia, with a remote patient monitoring solution powered by the Allurion Iris AI Platform and the company’s proprietary behavioral change program. The Allurion Virtual Care Suite is also available to providers as a standalone product to help monitor and manage weight loss therapy for patients regardless of whether they are treated with the gastric balloon, surgery or medical or nutritional approaches, the company said.
In addition to expanding access to the gastric balloon, the partnership “will help accelerate adoption of our Iris AI Platform as a standalone offering to streamline the management of patients undergoing bariatric surgery and potentially improve outcomes, further cementing our position as a leader in AI and weight management,” Gaur said in the statement.