OSU Spinoff EndoRetics Aims to Help Cut Obesity Crisis with Incisionless Bariatric Device

With an estimated 300 million clinically obese people on the planet, companies that are looking to help ease that epidemic will likely have no shortage of customers. And investors looking to cash in on this opportunity have a new candidate for their dollars. Columbus startup EndoRetics Inc. is an OSU spinoff developing a clamp-like device designed to shrink the opening in a patient’s stomach and restrict food intake. Unlike traditional gastric bypass surgery, the procedure to implant EndoRetics’ device requires no incision, minimal anesthesia, can be performed on an outpatient basis and can easily be reversed.

EndoRetics’ device was created by two OSU professors, Dr. Jeffrey Hazey and Dr. Bradley Needleman, who are both cofounders of the company, along with Vince Kazmer, CEO. Ohio State’s Technology Licensing & Commercialization office funded development of a prototype, which has been tested on an extracted animal stomach.

EndoRetics has shown enough early promise to receive a $50,000 TechGenesis grant from TechColumbus which the company has used primarily for market research. Kazmer plans to start fundraising in earnest shortly, hoping for an initial $500,000 in seed funding to be followed by a $5 million Series A round later.

For more, see the story in MedCity News.