by Alimetry has raised an oversubscribed US$18 million A2 funding round to commercialize its wearable gut health monitoring device, capitalizing on increased adoption by a growing cohort of US hospitals. This adoption is driven by Alimetry receiving its fourth FDA clearance, establishing a CPT III reimbursement code and completing more than 30 clinical trials. Alimetry’s AI-powered flagship delivers accurate analysis and diagnosis of intestinal disorders that have proven to be difficult to resolve using conventional diagnostics and testing. The oversubscription round was led by GD1 (Global from Day One), with participation from the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) GI Opportunity Fund, Olympus Innovation Ventures, IceHouse Ventures and successors to existing investors.
Nearly one in ten people suffer from chronic intestinal complaints, ranging from abdominal pain to chronic digestive problems, nausea and vomiting. The current diagnostic process is slow and bad for patients, causing them to suffer with a reduced quality of life during this period. Alimetry reduces the cost, time and complexity of gut health diagnostics by providing rapid, upfront clarity and diagnosis that enables more effective and definitive treatment.
“Alimetry was designed to bring clarity to a field that has involved long, uncertain diagnostic pathways. It gives doctors the tools they need to diagnose patients quickly and correctly, so we can move from trial and error (and guesswork) to clarity of care and personalized medicine,” explains Alimetry CEO Dr. Greg O’Grady, who is also professor of surgery at the University of Auckland.
“Alimery turns months or even years of testing into improved clarity and safer, more accessible and less invasive care. They have demonstrated the power of technology to usher in a new era of technology-enabled diagnostics – in this case, the undeniable link between gut health and patient health,” said Vignesh Kumar, co-managing partner of GD1.
How it works
Like the heart, the intestines produce electrical current, but these are 100 times weaker than the heart. Alimetry’s highly sensitive wearable device detects these electrical currents from the skin’s surface (called Body Surface Gastric Mapping), similar to an ultra-high resolution electrocardiogram (ECG). Recordings of these signals are made while patients eat and digest a meal. At the same time, patients register their symptoms in an app.
The device sends the patient’s gastric electrophysiology to the cloud, where advanced AI-powered analysis is performed using smart algorithms based on thousands of diverse and representative test cases used to train and improve benchmarking. The resulting, automatically generated Gastric Alimetry Report provides physicians with objective, data-driven insights to inform their interpretation and support the diagnosis and personalized treatment of gastric conditions.
“The AGA GI Opportunity Fund is excited to support Alimetry and its groundbreaking platform that will improve the patient experience by reducing both the time and cost of diagnosing GI symptoms,” said Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, MASGE , Wilmott Family Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Center for Endoscopic Innovation, Research and Training, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Pennsylvania Health System; Fund Manager and Advisor, AGA GI Opportunity Fund.
Understanding the connection between the gut and the brain
“Stomach disorders have a wide range of causes – ranging from diet, disease and the vagus nerve (physiological causes) to things like stress and the gut-brain axis. Having a multimodal platform that assesses all of these things simultaneously is a game changer for physicians. The Alimetry digital health and wearable platform includes physiology and symptom tracking via gut and brain health questionnaires built into the companion app, allowing doctors to turn a previously confusing picture into a specific diagnosis that paving the way for personalized medicine,” explains Chris Andrews, Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Calgary.
Early inclusion after FDA approval
The device and platform have been approved for clinical use by the US Food and Drug Administration and are being rolled out to the US market and since its controlled market launch in 2022. More than 40 hospitals and clinics around the world have signed up to use the device .
The American Medical Association has established a Category III Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) that allows data collection for widespread use and approval for reimbursement, meaning the product can be used in both hospitals and private clinics.
Alimetry also complies with strict privacy regulations, including HIPAA and GDPR.
“Alimetry is changing the way we approach patients with various stomach conditions. It’s hard not to get too excited about this,” says doctor Bu’ Hayee, professor of gastroenterology at King’s College London.
Journey to commercialization
Founded by Dr O’Grady and Dr Armen Gharibans in 2019, Alimetry’s research began at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. The company’s R&D team is headquartered in New Zealand; while the consumables are manufactured in the USA, where a recently expanded commercial function has been established to focus on commercialization enabled by its increase.
“In addition to commercializing our debut product, our team is also focused on ‘what’s next’ in terms of using our proprietary technology to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in the industry. We are introducing new features and new elements of our platform and expanding into the use of Alimetry beyond the gut, such as pediatrics. The technology is also suitable for use in other organs such as the colon, ultimately allowing us to even reach patients with accurate diagnostics with the potential to radically transform their health,” concludes Dr. O’Grady.
