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www.latimes.com]
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FDA approves a device for weight loss
In a bid to increase treatments for the nation's 79 million obese adults, the Food and Drug Administration has approved U.S. marketing of an implantable device that stimulates weight loss by manipulating key appetite signals passing between the brain and the gut.
The new device is the Maestro Rechargeable System, manufactured by EnteroMedics of St. Paul, Minn. While the FDA has approved four medications for weight loss in the past 2 1/2 years, the Maestro system is the first weight loss device to be approved since 2007.
Using electrical leads implanted just above the stomach and a regulator carried under the skin near the ribcage, the device suppresses signals carried by the vagus nerve.
