Stimatix GI Ltd to Compete in $2 Billion Stoma Market

Stimatix GI Ltd., whose product aims to give stoma patients control over when they defecate, is seeking a partner to help the company compete in a $2 billion market controlled by three companies including Denmark’s Coloplast A/S. Stimatix is in talks with investment banks to help it find a partner or a buyer this year, according to Steve Rhodes, chairman and chief executive officer of The Trendlines Group, a business incubator with about 60 companies in its portfolio including Stimatix. A stoma is an artificial opening in the abdomen to allow feces out of the body after the colon or ileum are surgically cut to combat cancer, ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Stoma patients usually attach a bag to the feces exit point, leading to involuntary excretion which may cause psychological as well as hygienic challenges. Stimatix’s colostomy device is working well in a 30-patient trial nearing its end, Rhodes said. “One patient told us he can finally sleep on his stomach,” Rhodes said in an interview at Trendlines headquarters in Misgav, a Galilean town in northern Israel surrounded by rolling green hills.“This could avert embarrassing situations for patients.” Stimatix, which has a European Union and U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance, would compete with Skillman, New Jersey-based ConvaTec Inc., Coloplast, and Wokingham, England- based Hollister Ltd. The three ostomy-bag suppliers share about 90 percent of the market for 1.5 million patients worldwide, according to Rhodes. Stimatix Investors: With products now on the market, stoma patients now have no control over when their bags fill up, Rhodes said. Stimatix’s Sphincter product seals to the stoma and a patient feels when the bowel has discharged feces, Rhodes said. Stimatix counts Pontifax Venture Capital Fund, the fund previously chaired by the late Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. patriarch Eli Hurvitz, as another investor.