Exclusive interview with Zhang Nengwei, Director of Beijing Shijitan Hospital: "Gastric Bypass Stent System" developed by Tongee expected to usher in a new era of interventional treatment for metabolic diseases

Weight loss has been a hot topic for discussion in recent years. "More and more people are trying to lose weight", Zhang Nengwei, the director of Beijing Shijitan Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Medical University said.

As a bariatric surgery expert, Director Zhang serves as the director of the Endoscopic Technique Training Center of the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China, and the director of the Southwest Branch of the Center mentioned above. He completed the first laparoscopic radical resection of rectal cancer in China, and have extensive experience in surgical management of various difficult diseases such as rectal cancer, thyroid tumor, colon cancer, hernia, and gastric cancer. In addition, he has also performed over 3,800 cutting-edge surgeries in China, such as laparoscopic thyroidectomy, cholecystectomy, laparoscopic vertical banded gastroplasty, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and laparoscopy.

Director Zhang has been committed to the breakthrough and innovation of bariatric surgery-related technology for many years, focusing on exploring safer and more efficient weight loss methods that are simpler in operation and cause less damage to the human body. Under the leadership of Director Zhang, Beijing Shijitan Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Medical University collaborated with Tongee in 2020 in the clinical study of a minimally invasive endoscopic bariatric technology, namely the "Gastric Bypass Stent System". The conduct of the clinical trials of the innovative technology brought the dawn of a new era to the field of endoscopic weight loss procedures in China.

The 2021 National Academic Conference of Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Weight Loss Procedures, sponsored by the National Clinical Research Center for Digestive Diseases, China Quality Association for Pharmaceuticals, and other authoritative institutions, was officially held in April 2021. During the conference, Director Zhang had a multidimensional discussion on the innovation of endoscopic weight loss technology with many experts from Grade-3 and Class-A hospitals. In addition, the participants also had a half-day in-depth discussion on the innovative technology of "Gastric Bypass Stent System" currently developed in China. During the conference, an exclusive interview was conducted with Director Zhang on the current status and prospects in the field of endoscopic weight loss. When it came to the "Gastric Bypass Stent System", an innovative weight loss technology that enables the implantation of a removable stent through a gastroscope with minimally invasive intervention, Director Zhang said that this technology is expected to usher in a new era of interventional treatment for metabolic diseases, and he is confident that the technique will bring more benefits to patients with metabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease worldwide in the future.

The following is a transcript of some dialogues during the interview.

Moderator: Hello, Director Zhang, which populations do you think are the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" mainly applicable to?

Director Zhang: I think that the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" is mainly applicable to two groups of population.

One group includes individuals who want to take weight loss surgery but don’t qualify for it (such as those who are only overweight by 20 or 30 pounds), or those who meet the surgical requirements but have special needs. For example, a bride who is about to get married, wants to lose weight quickly and doesn't want to change her body structure can choose the Gastric Bypass Stent System to lose 20 or 30 pounds in a few months.

The second group includes individuals who need surgery to lose weight but are unable to undergo surgery for other physical reasons. Relatively speaking, the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" is more important to such population. We often receive such patients, who may weigh 300 to 400 pounds and should undergo surgery, but don’t qualify for it due to breathing and heart diseases. In such cases, the use of the Gastric Bypass Stent System can help the patient lose weight by dozens of pounds, relieve symptoms of breathing and heart diseases, and allow the patient to successfully achieve suitable surgical indications and undergo surgical weight loss.

Moderator: From a professional perspective, is it difficult for physicians to implant and remove the "Gastric Bypass Stent System"?

Director Zhang: The "Gastric Bypass Stent System" developed by Tongee adopts a folding placement method, which makes it easier for physicians to operate and safer for the patients. In addition, the technology can certainly become more popularized. 

A treatment with high technical requirements is more likely to be restricted for wide application. Since physicians who can perform a gastroscopy are qualified for the operation of the Gastric Bypass Stent System, the system can be used in grade-2 hospitals in districts, counties and even smaller administrative units. In addition, its indications can be further expanded after it is marketed.

Moderator: What are the advantages of the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" implanted via an endoscope, compared with other existing weight loss surgeries?

Director Zhang: At present, the conventional weight loss surgeries can be classified into two categories, namely surgeries performed only on the stomach (such as sleeve gastrectomy) and surgeries performed jointly on the stomach and intestine (such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass). Both categories will cause certain damage (minimally invasive) to the human body, and the patient needs to have certain surgical indications. However, the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" can be implanted through a gastroscope with minimally invasive intervention, which is relatively simpler to operate and will not cause irreversible damage to the human body. In the future, it may bring complementary advantages to conventional weight loss surgeries.

Moderator: As a bariatric surgery expert, what do you think of the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" developed by Tongee?

Director Zhang: First of all, I think this technique has promising application prospects.

On the one hand, there is a large number of overweight individuals in China. On the other hand, there is a phenomenon in China in which many people who eagerly want to lose weight are not those who are overweight by a lot (such as those weighing 300 or 400 pounds), but those who are overweight by just thirty or forty pounds, or even only a dozen pounds. These people have a particularly strong demand for weight loss. Therefore, the "Gastric Bypass Stent System" developed by Tongee is relatively suitable for these individuals as temporary implantation of the device can help them lose ten or twenty pounds of weight.

Conclusion: It was reported that the clinical trial of "Gastric Bypass Stent System" led by Beijing Shijitan Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Medical University and Tongee has officially started. Since April 2021, many patients have been enrolled and successfully implanted with the device. Besides, one patient who has recently completed implantation has experienced significant weigh loss. Beijing Shijitan Hospital will continue to receive and review the subsequent implantation applications from more patients, and provide new weight loss treatment regimens for more patients based on their indications.

Since its founding, Tongee has always been committed to developing new approaches to treat metabolic diseases. The "Gastric Bypass Stent System" is one of the innovative devices developed by Tongee for the treatment of metabolic diseases. The recognition from Director Zhang at the National Academic Conference of Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Weight Loss Procedures has undoubtedly increased the confidence in the extensive clinical development of the "Gastric Bypass Stent System", and also brought new hope to the numerous patients troubled by obesity and metabolic diseases. The application and effectiveness of such new technique deserve our further attention.

About Beijing Shijitan Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Medical University.

Beijing Shijitan Hospital Affiliated to the Capital Medical University, adjacent to the China Millennium Monument in Beijing, was formerly the Beijing Railway General Hospital of the Ministry of Railways. It was founded in 1915 and has been approved in the first batch of Grade-3 and Class-A hospitals in China in 1989. As one of the affiliated hospitals of Capital Medical University, Beijing Shijitan Hospital is a general hospital in Beijing, the cancer center of Capital Medical University, the Ninth Clinical Medical College of Peking University, the Beijing Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, and the governing unit of Shijitan Hospital Medical Consortium. The key disciplines of the hospital include medical oncology, GI and hepatobiliary surgical oncology, and gastroenterology.

About Tongee

Founded in 2016, Tongee is a national innovative enterprise dedicated to the research and development of new approaches for the treatment of metabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver. We are currently committed to the research and development and the clinical research of the "Gastric Bypass Stent System", an innovative minimally invasive technology developed by Tongee for the treatment of metabolic diseases.