Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) has renewed its research collaboration agreement with the University of Cincinnati (UC) and its Metabolic Diseases Institute (MDI).
The three-year, $13.5m grant extension, is part of the EES Metabolic Applied Research Strategy (MARS), which also includes research from GI Metabolism Laboratory and Weight Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
The MARS initiative is aimed at improving the understanding of the physiological changes resulting from bariatric surgery. EES is expected to highlight findings and potential implications of this research from both institutions at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
Recently, data were presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2010 by researchers from the GI Metabolism Laboratory and Weight Center at the MGH that demonstrated that Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) accelerated an increase in circulating levels of certain bile acids following meals.
Dr Kaplan, director of the GI Metabolism Laboratory and Weight Center at the MGH, said: “If we can truly understand the physiology behind how bypass surgery works, we can leverage this knowledge to create less invasive devices and procedures, creating a variety of weight loss options. Finding ways to ‘bypass the bypass’ is a very exciting area of research that we hope will deliver options that are well suited for the large percentage of obesity sufferers who aren’t currently receiving treatment.”
Karen Licitra, group chairperson at Ethicon Endo-Surgery, said: “Ethicon Endo-Surgery is committed to collaborating with clinicians to develop new, comprehensive bariatric solutions while also ensuring that people with obesity have access to current treatment options that can help them achieve sustained weight loss and reduce co-morbidities.
“Due to the incredible research being performed at institutions such as UC and MGH, the MARS program is yielding very exciting results that are changing our understanding of how bariatric surgery works. We strongly believe continued efforts in this area will dramatically improve our collective ability to treat obesity and metabolic diseases.”