Picking up the Pacing in Obesity: Medtronic acquires Transneuronix

Medtronic soon will be able to offer a less invasive and safer surgical alternative to gastric bypass surgery, now that it has acquired Transneuronix for $260 million. Transneuronix has developed a gastric pacing device known as Transcend, which stimulates the stomach, and it appears to affect multiple mechanisms in obesity. The device has been approved in Europe, and has been implanted in more than 700 patients worldwide. In the US, Transneuronix has completed enrollment for its pivotal clinical trial.