New Noninvasive Device Could Control Diabetes

At the same time, patients were found to have lost an average of 27.5 pounds by the 30-week point --an achievement described as "slightly less dramatic an effect" when compared with the device's impact on glucose levels.

However, the researchers noted that improvements in blood sugar control appeared to occur independently of weight loss --indicating that the device has a direct beneficial impact on diabetes status, regardless of how well it sloughs off the pounds.

"This is just one model of the types of endoscopic devices that we are going to see in the future," Kaplan said at the meeting, and he noted that his research team plans to launch larger, long-term trials to further explore this particular mechanism's potential.

"I'm optimistic," said Kaplan. "This is one of the more promising devices. But we're at least a few years away from FDA approval, and this is just an early development phase."

For his part, Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, agreed that more investigation is needed.

"I know the device well," he said. "And certainly the fact that we now know that the gastrointestinal tract has a profound influence on both regulating food intake as well as potentially regulating metabolic control brings gastroenterology, as well gastrointestinal devices, into the forefront of metabolic therapy."

"But whether this particular device actually works in humans is yet to be determined," Klein cautioned. "And nothing short of randomized control trials will be acceptable to determine its efficacy. That will be the proof in the pudding."

More information

For more on type 2 diabetes and treatments, visit the American Diabetes Association.

SOURCES: Lee M. Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., gastroenterologist, associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, and director, Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center, Boston; Samuel Klein, M.D., director, Center for Human Nutrition, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis; Sept. 15, 2008, presentation, First World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, New York City