Financings In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
EnteroMedics plans IPO: Developer of the Maestro obesity management implant files preliminary prospectus May 25 with the Securities & Exchange Commission for an initial public stock offering to help fund preparations for a PMA submission in the first half of 2009. Intended as an alternative to gastric bypass or gastric banding procedures, the system is based on the firm's VBLOC (Vagal Blocking for Obestity Control Therapy) technology, which uses high frequency, low power pulses of electrical energy to block satiety and hunger signals carried by the vagus nerve between the brain and digestive organs. EnteroMedics plans to begin a 220-patient, U.S. pivotal trial by the end of September. The St. Paul, Minn. firm initially planned to file a PMA by mid-2008; the company currently projects FDA approval and a U.S. launch in 2010 (1"The Gray Sheet" Aug. 7, 2006, p. 10)...