Apollo Endosurgery® Signs Agreement with Apollo Hospitals Group to Advance Incisionless Bariatric Surgery in India
AUSTIN, TX – September 29, 2011 – Apollo Endosurgery®, Inc. announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Apollo Hospitals Group, one of the largest healthcare networks in Asia, to promote the adoption of incisionless bariatric procedures with flexible surgery tools in India.
Flexible surgery is the next step in the evolution of minimally-invasive surgery. It combines the flexibility of an endoscope with the precision of laparoscopic surgery to offer patients incisionless treatment options for numerous procedures that were often considered too complicated for traditional approaches.
“We believe that flexible surgery represents the most exciting innovation in bariatric and gastrointestinal surgery in years and we look forward to offering these incisionless procedures to our patients to help combat obesity and other conditions,” said Prathap C. Reddy, M.D. Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group. “With a very welcome rise in socioeconomic levels in many Indian cities has come an unfortunate increase in overweight and obese people, especially women. Apollo Hospitals Group is dedicated to helping fight the obesity problem before it reaches epidemic levels like it has in other nations.”
Since flexible surgical tools allow a surgeon to work inside the body without making incisions, patients may benefit from reduced risk of infections and associated complications, no visible scarring and faster recovery times compared to those who undergo more traditional procedures performed with laparoscopic or open approaches through the abdominal cavity.
“Robust clinical data show that bariatric surgery is the most effective tool to combat obesity and its co-morbidities, however patients often avoid pursuing surgical options because of the expense and invasiveness of the procedures,” Elliot R. Goodman, M.D., F.A.C.S., a leading bariatric surgeon from Beth Israel Medical Center, New York. “By integrating Apollo Endosurgery’s OverStitch™ platform into their armamentarium, surgeons at Apollo Hospitals throughout India will be able to offer their patients access to an entirely new suite of minimally-invasive, incisionless procedures.” Dr. Goodman has trained at Apollo Endosurgery’s facilities in Austin, TX and is helping to train surgeons at the Apollo Hospital Group network how to perform incisionless procedures with Apollo Endosurgery’s flexible surgery tools.
“We are thrilled and honored to enter into this collaboration with Apollo Hospitals, India to bring less invasive flexible surgical devices and techniques to Indian patients,” said J. Lee Putman, Global VP of Sales & Marketing for Apollo Endosurgery. “This represents a tremendous milestone for the company.”
The India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) estimates that the Indian healthcare sector is poised to reach $280 billion by the year 2020. Increasing population, higher expenditure on lifestyles, rising market of health insurance, government initiatives for better medical infrastructure, and focus on Public Private Partnership (PPP) models are some of the driving factors for the growth of healthcare sector in India, according to the IBEF.
Under the terms of the agreement, Apollo Endosurgery and Apollo Hospitals Group will collaborate to promote methods of performing flexible endoscopic bariatric surgery in hospitals throughout India. This MOU is being facilitated by PrimeSource Medtech LLP, a leading Medtech Consulting Company based in Mumbai and New York
About Apollo Endosurgery®, Inc.
Apollo Endosurgery®, Inc. is dedicated to revolutionizing patient care through the development of flexible surgery, which is emerging from the convergence of laparoscopic surgery and therapeutic gastroenterology. Flexible surgery minimizes the trauma of surgical access by taking advantage of natural orifices to deliver surgical tools to targeted areas. All of Apollo’s products are compatible with existing flexible endoscope platforms. Apollo Endosurgery® was cofounded with the Apollo Group, a unique collaboration of physicians from the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Medical University of South Carolina, the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The company is funded by PTV Sciences, H.I.G. Ventures and has received a grant from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas.
About Apollo Hospitals Group
With over 8,500 beds across 54 hospitals, Apollo Hospitals Group is one of the largest healthcare networks in Asia. The hospitals are multi-specialty tertiary care facilities with centers of excellence across in medical disciplines. Committed to the development of unique centers of excellence and quality healthcare accessible to all, Apollo Hospitals has earned Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditations for seven of its hospitals, the most by any hospital group in the region.