Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 26, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 15 H E A L T H C A R E F O C U S December 7, 2018 7:30 - 10:30AM • Beechwood Hotel, Worcester Cost: $45 Pre-registration required. HealthCare FORUM A Worcester Business Journal Event CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS HealthCare FORUM A Worcester Business Journal Event Presenting Sponsors HEALTH CARE INNOVATIONS AND THE IMPACT ON COST CONTAINMENT To register or for more event information visit www.wbjournal.com/ healthcareforum Vice President at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Executive Lead of 100 Million Healthier Lives KEYNOTE SPEAKER Soma Stout, MD, MS Carolyn Langer, MD, JD, MPH SVP and Chief Medical Officer, Fallon Health John Greenwood President, Accountable Care Organization, and Senior Vice President of Population Health, UMass Memorial Health Care PANELISTS: David M. Seltz Executive Director, Massachusetts Health Policy Commission Dr. Michael Sheehy Chief of Population Health and Analytics, Reliant Medical Group MODERATOR: A growing market for weight-loss solutions Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Massachusetts has long had one of the country's lowest obesity rates, but the state's rate has risen dramatically nonetheless, even as the national obesity rate has risen at a faster rate to 40 percent. they determined. Gaur and Levy were so excited enough about the possibility aer graduating, they skipped their residency programs that would have led to work as physicians and instead experimented. Aer what Gaur said was hundreds of iterations of a product, in 2009 they had something like what would become the Elipse Balloon. In the years just aer the Great Recession, fundraising was difficult, but Allurion has raised $37 million to date. Gaur credits the co-founders' clear vision and easy-to-identify problem of obesity as reasons they were able to find funding during a time when funding was so hard to come by. "Great companies come out of peri- ods like that," Gaur said. Overseas, the Elipse Balloon is selling for around $3,500, or about half the price of other gastric balloons. e company doesn't expect health insurers to cover the cost once it hits the market in the United States. e balloon will come with a scale and an app to help patients track their progress, and Gaur says patients will be urged to work with a nutritionist to con- tinue their weight loss aer the balloon's four months in the stomach are up. Already, Allurion has reached capac- ity at its Natick headquarters. A 10,000 square-foot clean room just down the street is already in the works in antici- pation of receiving FDA approval. 0 10 20 30 '95 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 26% 11.6% Massachusetts obesity rate W

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