Torax Medical’s Linx System: A New Approach To GERD

30 Jan 2013

Although many companies have fallen short in developing a truly effective minimally invasive device for the treatment of chronic GERD, Torax Medical’s co-founder, president, and CEO Todd Berg believes the company’s new Linx Reflux Management System will find success because it is fundamentally unlike anything else that has come before. In an interview with Medtech Insight, Berg discussed the Linx device, the GERD market, and the company’s strategies for success.

Most of the 20 million adults in the US who suffer from chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) hope to find symptomatic relief from their “heartburn” with first-line nonsurgical treatments, like raising the head of the bed, losing weight, eating smaller meals, or taking medications such as antacids or proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs). However, despite high-dose medications, GERD-related symptoms persist in almost 40% of patients, and less than 1% of these patients resort to having a laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication, an invasive, but effective surgical procedure that involves wrapping the upper portion of the stomach or fundus around the bottom of the esophagus.

Over the last decade, medical device manufacturers have been trying to develop an effective minimally invasive device for the treatment...