Over one billion people worldwide and approximately 130 million Americans are overweight or obese, according to a July 2005 report published by the World Health Organization. If current trends continue, that number will increase to 1.5 billion by 2015. Joining the many neuropharmaceutical companies developing new therapeutics to treat the escalating global epidemic of overweight and obesity – “globesity” – are a small cadre of neurodevice companies offering novel solutions. The potential of neurostimulation devices to treat a variety of diseases, such as epilepsy and chronic pain, is becoming widely appreciated. The neurostimulation market generated revenues of over $1 billion in 2004 with 20% growth, making it the fastest growing areas of medical devices. In most applications the technical principle is the same: a pacemaker-type device known as an Implantable Pulse Generator (IPG), delivers a precise pattern of stimulation via the appropriate nerve pathway to achieve the desired effect...
