EndoBarrier reduces heart risk during studies

GI Dynamics (ASX:GID) has announced data showing that patients treated with its EndoBarrier device therapy showed improvements in cardiovascular risk.

Obese patients with and without type 2 diabetes showed statistically significant improvements in body weight, glycaemic control and multiple cardiometabolic risk factors after being treated with the device, the data show.

The results from two studies evaluating a total of 40 patients were presented by University of Texas Health Science Center cardiology professor Robert Chilton at the 50th annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Austria.

The patients completed a total of 12 months of treatment with EndoBarrier, a tube-shaped liner designed to act as a barrier between food and a portion of the intestinal wall.

Results show a 19-40% reduction in 10-year cardiovascular risk levels among the treated patients, as calculated by three different risk models.

Overall, patients reported an average 18.6% reduction in total body weight and 17.7 cm from the waist.

Systolic blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol levels were also lowered by a statistically significant amount. Blood glucose levels in the diabetic subgroup were reduced by an average of 2.1%.

The number of patients who met the criteria for metabolic syndrome was accordingly reduced from 35 out of 40 at the time of implantation to 20 out of 40 at the 12-month mark.

“The body of evidence supporting the use of EndoBarrier Therapy continues to grow, not only for its ability to improve type 2 diabetes and obesity, but also for its impact on overall cardiometabolic health,” GI Dynamics Chief Medical Officer Dr David Maggs commented.

GI Dynamics (ASX:GID) shares were trading unchanged at $0.485 as of around 2 pm on Thursday.