Alimetry pledges $18 million to develop portable gut health monitoring

Alimetry has raised an oversubscribed $18 million A2 funding round to commercialize its wearable gut health monitoring device, benefiting from wider adoption across a growing group of US hospitals. This adoption is driven by Alimetria receiving its fourth FDA approval, the introduction of a CPT III reimbursement code, and the completion of more than 30 clinical studies. Alimetry’s flagship AI-powered product provides accurate analysis and diagnosis of intestinal diseases that have proven difficult to address through traditional diagnostics and testing. The oversubscribed 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, as well as existing investors. ​​​​​​

Almost one in ten people suffer from chronic gut symptoms, ranging from abdominal pain to chronic indigestion, nausea and vomiting. The current diagnostic pathway is slow and unsatisfactory for patients, causing them to suffer during this period with a decreased quality of life. Alimetry reduces the cost, time, and complexity of diagnosing bowel conditions by providing rapid, early clarity and diagnosis that leads to more effective and definitive treatment.

“Alimetry was developed to bring clarity to an area that involves long and uncertain diagnostic journeys. 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 chief executive Dr Greg O’Grady, who is also Professor of Surgery at Auckland university.

“Alimeri turns months or even years of testing into improved clarity and safer, more accessible and less invasive care. They demonstrated the power of technology to usher in a new era of technological diagnostics – in this case, the undeniable link between gut health and patient health,” comments Vinesh Kumar, co-managing partner of GD1.

How does this work

Like the heart, the intestines produce electrical current, but it is 100 times weaker than the heart. Alimetry’s highly sensitive wearable device detects these electrical currents from the surface of the skin (called gastric surface mapping), similar to an ultra-high-resolution electrocardiogram (ECG). These signals are recorded while patients eat and digest food. At the same time, patients record their symptoms in the app.

The device sends the patient’s gastric electrophysiology data to the cloud, where advanced AI-powered analysis is performed using intelligent 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 the objective, data-driven information needed to interpret and assist in the diagnosis and personalized treatment of gastric diseases.

“The AGA GI Opportunity Fund is pleased to support Alimetry and its revolutionary platform, which will improve the patient experience by reducing the time and cost of diagnosing gastrointestinal symptoms,” said Michael L. Kochman, MD, AGAF, MASGE, Wilmott Family Professor . Medicine and Surgery, Center for Endoscopic Innovation, Research and Training, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Pennsylvania Health System; Fund Manager and Advisor to the AGA GI Opportunity Fund.

Understanding the gut-brain connection

“Stomach illness has many causes, from diet, disease and vagus nerve disorders (physiological causes) to things like stress and the gut-brain axis. Having a multimodal platform that evaluates all these aspects simultaneously is a game changer for clinicians. “Alimetry’s digital, wearable health and wellness platform includes physiology and symptom tracking through gut and brain health questionnaires built into the accompanying app, allowing clinicians to turn a previously confusing picture into a concrete diagnosis that paves the way to personalized medicine,” explains Chris Andrews, Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Calgary.

Early implementation after FDA approval

The device and platform have been approved for clinical use by the US Food and Drug Administration and will be commercialized in the US and released into the regulated market in 2022. More than 40 hospitals and clinics around the world have signed up to use the device.

The American Medical Association has established Category III Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®), which allows data collection for widespread use and approval for reimbursement, meaning the product can be used in both hospitals and private practices.

Alimetry also complies with strict privacy regulations, including HIPAA and GDPR.

“Alimetry is changing the approach to patients with various stomach diseases. It’s hard not to worry about it,” says doctor Bu Hayi, professor of gastroenterology at King’s College London.

Path to commercialization

Alimetry’s research, founded by Dr O’Grady and Dr Armen Gharibans in 2019, began at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. The company’s research and development team is headquartered in New Zealand; while its consumables are manufactured in the USA, where a new enhanced commercial function has been created to focus on commercialization based on its enhancement.

“In addition to commercializing our debut product, our team is also focusing on ‘what’s next’ in terms of leveraging our proprietary technology to continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the industry. We will be introducing new features and new elements of our platform, as well as expanding the use of Alimetry beyond the intestine, for example in pediatrics. This technology is also suitable for use in other organs such as the colon, which ultimately helps us provide even patients with accurate diagnostics that can potentially make a dramatic difference in their health,” concludes Dr. O’Grady.