SoCalBio to host forum on latest medical devices for treating obesity

The Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio) will host a discussion on the latest medical devices for treating obesity during its networking forum on Thursday, March 25th (7:00 - 9:30 am) at the UC Irvine University Club.

“Attendees at the forum on March 25th will get up to speed on all the latest innovations.”

The forum will include a keynote by Bill Murray, president and CEO of Reshape Medical - the San Clemente firm behind a new device-based treatment for morbid obesity. Currently undergoing clinical trials, the treatment involves inserting a balloon into the stomach via a procedure that is far less-invasive than lap-band or gastric bypass surgery.

Following Murray's keynote, a panel of local experts will discuss key issues - from regulation and business development to reimbursement and healthcare reform - impacting the device-based obesity care industry.

Panelists include:

• Fred Cahn, PhD, CEO of Biomedical Strategies LLC (La Jolla)
• Neal Kaufman, MD, MPH, Founder and CEO of DPS Health (Los Angeles)
• Tom Kinder, CEO of Bariatric Advantage, Inc. (Irvine)
• Roger Zickfeld, Managing Director of Zickfeld Advisors (Los Angeles)
• Monica Welling, Partner at Atheln, Inc. (Los Angeles)

"According to the CDC, almost one out of every three adults in the U.S. is obese, and of those about 10 million are morbidly obese and may be helped by device-based treatments developed here in Southern California," said Ahmed Enany, president and CEO of SoCalBio. "Attendees at the forum on March 25th will get up to speed on all the latest innovations."

As the medical need for obesity management has skyrocketed, innovations developed in Southern California continue to transform the standard of care. Examples include the LapBand from BioEnterics (acquired by Inamed Corp and now part of Allergan Medical) and a new endoscopic gastrointestinal bypass sleeve device from ValenTx.