Allergan considering selling off Lapband side of business
I agree Judy or sooner. I just found another surgeon here in MI stating due to high failure rate he has learned to do revision from band to sleeve and RNY. He has stopped band. One of the Mexican Surgeon has posted the same on his site. The MI Doctor is almost low enough to make it worth it to have surgery here if I don't get insurance. (Not to mention safer after care.)
Selling the business doesn't affect their liability for manufacturing, marketing and selling the bands during the time they own the company AND if the new ownership group continues to sell them, Allergan designed them and should still have a level of responsibility for bands sold after the deal closes.
I have a hard time drawing any conclusions (pro or con) about the band based on that report. The US economy is in tough shape, the popularity of bariatric surgery in general is leveling off, and insurance coverage for bariatric surgery is still a challenge. All the other bariatric surgery procedures can have serious complications and failure rates, but it's easier to point the finger of blame at a single manufacturer of a medical device than it is to blame the thousands of surgeons who are doing procedures that don't use a medical device. The FDA isn't looking over the shoulders of all those surgeons the way it scrutinizes Allergan or Ethicon Endo.
That's my take on it, anyway.
Jean McMillan c.2009-2013 - Always a bandster at heart
author of Bandwagon (TM), Strategies for Success with the Adjustable Gastric Band & Bandwagon Cookery. Bandwagon for Kindle now available on Amazon. Read my blog at: jean-onthebandwagon.blogspot.com