Serial entrepreneur examines the risk-to-reward ratio balance in GI innovation

 

BOSTON – Just out of fellowship, Christopher C. Thompson, MD, director of therapeutic endoscopy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, adapted an antireflux suturing device for use in a bariatric procedure. It worked so well he began using it routinely and taught others the technique. That was the first step in a journey that has taken him from consulting with industry to a founder of start-ups.

“The device company heard about what we were doing and were interested,” Dr. Thompson recounted during his How-I-Did-It lecture at the 2018 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology. In the end, he served as a consultant in the development of a new suturing device specific for the bariatric procedure. This included helping secure a patent and learning first-hand what steps are needed to get a device to market.

“It was a great learning experience. I now knew something about the role of a consultant and the process of product innovation,” Dr. Thompson explained. He also learned that the low-risk participation of a consultant is a low-reward proposition. The new product was successful, but Dr. Thompson received no stock, and the licensing fee went to the hospital.

“I do not have any regrets. It was good for my career and fun to be involved, but there was not much financial gain for me or for my department,” Dr. Thompson said.

His subsequent experience with licensing was an incremental step forward. In one example, he worked on developing an endoscopic simulator, an important unmet need both for teaching and evaluating skills in diagnostic colonoscopy, including a kinematic analysis that helped identify techniques that are associated with high levels of skill.

“We developed the technology in-house through a series of grants. The risks were low, but the rewards were better because the money helped fund activities in our department,” he said.

That device, too, has been very successful, but Dr. Thompson said it is important to recognize how far innovation can go when the work stays in the academic setting and the goal is licensing the technology. More recently, he took a nonsurgical anastomosis device through preclinical testing, but he was then unable to attract a device company for the next steps of development.

 

“With no one interested, we created a start-up,” Dr. Thompson said. The company, GI Windows, has now taken this product, a magnetic endo-luminal anastomosis bypass device for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, into advanced stages of clinical testing. Relative to licensing arrangements, this involved a different level of participation.

“A start-up means creating a board, raising money, and being involved in details that can involve a lot of heavy lifting,” Dr. Thompson said. “It is basically a second job.”

The ongoing clinical studies in patients with diabetes have been very encouraging. Dr. Thompson reported that a large proportion of patients with diabetes fitted with the device have been able to reduce or discontinue their antidiabetic medications, and high rates of excess weight loss have been documented.

GI Windows was created for the sole purpose of developing the anastomosis device, but Dr. Thompson was also involved in creating another company, now sold, that started without a specific device in mind.

 

“The products we developed were just from brainstorming on unmet needs, and we had several successes. That was a chance to learn new areas of the business, including building a sales force and learning how to get involved in international distribution, which were separate from trying simply to produce a viable clinical tool,” he said.

Creating companies, rather than licensing ideas, trades higher risk for greater reward, but Dr. Thompson emphasized that these rewards are not just financial.

“It is exciting to develop a team you trust, get a successful company off the ground, and watch it grow,” Dr. Thompson said. He indicated that the risk-to-reward calculation should not be undertaken independent of the value of the learning experience.

 

BOSTON – Just out of fellowship, Christopher C. Thompson, MD, director of therapeutic endoscopy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, adapted an antireflux suturing device for use in a bariatric procedure. It worked so well he began using it routinely and taught others the technique. That was the first step in a journey that has taken him from consulting with industry to a founder of start-ups.

“The device company heard about what we were doing and were interested,” Dr. Thompson recounted during his How-I-Did-It lecture at the 2018 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology. In the end, he served as a consultant in the development of a new suturing device specific for the bariatric procedure. This included helping secure a patent and learning first-hand what steps are needed to get a device to market.

“It was a great learning experience. I now knew something about the role of a consultant and the process of product innovation,” Dr. Thompson explained. He also learned that the low-risk participation of a consultant is a low-reward proposition. The new product was successful, but Dr. Thompson received no stock, and the licensing fee went to the hospital.

“I do not have any regrets. It was good for my career and fun to be involved, but there was not much financial gain for me or for my department,” Dr. Thompson said.

His subsequent experience with licensing was an incremental step forward. In one example, he worked on developing an endoscopic simulator, an important unmet need both for teaching and evaluating skills in diagnostic colonoscopy, including a kinematic analysis that helped identify techniques that are associated with high levels of skill.

“We developed the technology in-house through a series of grants. The risks were low, but the rewards were better because the money helped fund activities in our department,” he said.

That device, too, has been very successful, but Dr. Thompson said it is important to recognize how far innovation can go when the work stays in the academic setting and the goal is licensing the technology. More recently, he took a nonsurgical anastomosis device through preclinical testing, but he was then unable to attract a device company for the next steps of development.

 

“With no one interested, we created a start-up,” Dr. Thompson said. The company, GI Windows, has now taken this product, a magnetic endo-luminal anastomosis bypass device for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, into advanced stages of clinical testing. Relative to licensing arrangements, this involved a different level of participation.

“A start-up means creating a board, raising money, and being involved in details that can involve a lot of heavy lifting,” Dr. Thompson said. “It is basically a second job.”

The ongoing clinical studies in patients with diabetes have been very encouraging. Dr. Thompson reported that a large proportion of patients with diabetes fitted with the device have been able to reduce or discontinue their antidiabetic medications, and high rates of excess weight loss have been documented.

GI Windows was created for the sole purpose of developing the anastomosis device, but Dr. Thompson was also involved in creating another company, now sold, that started without a specific device in mind.

 

“The products we developed were just from brainstorming on unmet needs, and we had several successes. That was a chance to learn new areas of the business, including building a sales force and learning how to get involved in international distribution, which were separate from trying simply to produce a viable clinical tool,” he said.

Creating companies, rather than licensing ideas, trades higher risk for greater reward, but Dr. Thompson emphasized that these rewards are not just financial.

“It is exciting to develop a team you trust, get a successful company off the ground, and watch it grow,” Dr. Thompson said. He indicated that the risk-to-reward calculation should not be undertaken independent of the value of the learning experience.

 

BOSTON – Just out of fellowship, Christopher C. Thompson, MD, director of therapeutic endoscopy, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, adapted an antireflux suturing device for use in a bariatric procedure. It worked so well he began using it routinely and taught others the technique. That was the first step in a journey that has taken him from consulting with industry to a founder of start-ups.

“The device company heard about what we were doing and were interested,” Dr. Thompson recounted during his How-I-Did-It lecture at the 2018 AGA Tech Summit, sponsored by the AGA Center for GI Innovation and Technology. In the end, he served as a consultant in the development of a new suturing device specific for the bariatric procedure. This included helping secure a patent and learning first-hand what steps are needed to get a device to market.

“It was a great learning experience. I now knew something about the role of a consultant and the process of product innovation,” Dr. Thompson explained. He also learned that the low-risk participation of a consultant is a low-reward proposition. The new product was successful, but Dr. Thompson received no stock, and the licensing fee went to the hospital.

“I do not have any regrets. It was good for my career and fun to be involved, but there was not much financial gain for me or for my department,” Dr. Thompson said.

His subsequent experience with licensing was an incremental step forward. In one example, he worked on developing an endoscopic simulator, an important unmet need both for teaching and evaluating skills in diagnostic colonoscopy, including a kinematic analysis that helped identify techniques that are associated with high levels of skill.

“We developed the technology in-house through a series of grants. The risks were low, but the rewards were better because the money helped fund activities in our department,” he said.

That device, too, has been very successful, but Dr. Thompson said it is important to recognize how far innovation can go when the work stays in the academic setting and the goal is licensing the technology. More recently, he took a nonsurgical anastomosis device through preclinical testing, but he was then unable to attract a device company for the next steps of development.

 

“With no one interested, we created a start-up,” Dr. Thompson said. The company, GI Windows, has now taken this product, a magnetic endo-luminal anastomosis bypass device for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, into advanced stages of clinical testing. Relative to licensing arrangements, this involved a different level of participation.

“A start-up means creating a board, raising money, and being involved in details that can involve a lot of heavy lifting,” Dr. Thompson said. “It is basically a second job.”

The ongoing clinical studies in patients with diabetes have been very encouraging. Dr. Thompson reported that a large proportion of patients with diabetes fitted with the device have been able to reduce or discontinue their antidiabetic medications, and high rates of excess weight loss have been documented.

GI Windows was created for the sole purpose of developing the anastomosis device, but Dr. Thompson was also involved in creating another company, now sold, that started without a specific device in mind.

 

“The products we developed were just from brainstorming on unmet needs, and we had several successes. That was a chance to learn new areas of the business, including building a sales force and learning how to get involved in international distribution, which were separate from trying simply to produce a viable clinical tool,” he said.

Creating companies, rather than licensing ideas, trades higher risk for greater reward, but Dr. Thompson emphasized that these rewards are not just financial.

“It is exciting to develop a team you trust, get a successful company off the ground, and watch it grow,” Dr. Thompson said. He indicated that the risk-to-reward calculation should not be undertaken independent of the value of the learning experience.