Covidien, a leading global healthcare products company, has announced the launch of the Our Resolution movement, a collaborative effort between healthcare experts, nonprofit organizations, health agencies, patients, and spokespersons who share the goal of resolving Type 2 diabetes. The movement is focused around the discovery that gastric bypass surgery resolves diabetes in approximately 77 percent of morbidly obese patients. A study published in March in the American Journal of Medicine showed that many patients experienced a resolution of their diabetes or need for medication within days of the surgery. Covidien’s new campaign aims to educate healthcare providers and patients about the impact of Type 2 diabetes and the potential of bariatric surgery as a treatment option. The World Health Organization estimates that the worldwide incidence of Type 2 diabetes will grow from 171 million cases to 366 million by 2030.
The Our Resolution movement will launch on June 21 at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery in Grapevine, TX, before traveling to other U.S. cities. The campaign is supported by the National Association of Bariatric Nurses and the Obesity Action Coalition. More information about the campaign is available at www.ourresolution.com.
Other companies that are developing products to diagnose, monitor, or treat diabetes include Veralight, Betagenon, Biotech Holdings, MetaMorphix, ObeTherapy, and VIVUS (whose anti-obesity drug, Qnexa, recently showed promise for diabetics).