Midnight Snackers Get Electric Nudge to Keep Pounds Off, IntraPace, Inc. Reveals

Katrin Falb, 33, a dietitian with a weight problem since her early teens, has tried everything from Weight Watchers to acupuncture. Now Falb may have found the answer to her woes with a device implanted near her stomach. The product, made by IntraPace Inc. and called Abiliti, is the size of a half-inch stack of business cards and sends electrical pulses to the stomach to make people feel full with smaller meals. It also sends signals to the brain to discourage snacking between meals and late at night. The implant, developed with investments from medical device makers Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and others, has so far helped Falb lose 23 kilograms (51 pounds) since her surgery in March 2011.