Innovative drug delivery systems like nanoparticles, hydrogels, and microgrippers are transforming gastrointestinal treatment—particularly for IBD—by enabling precise, sustained, and targeted therapeutic delivery. These technologies aim to overcome GI tract barriers, improve patient adherence, and offer personalized, efficient disease management solutions.
Author: Abhay Panchal
Neurogastroenterology (NGE), the subspecialty focused on disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs) such as IBS and chronic constipation, faces limited growth due to inadequate training, lack of referral centers, and persistent stigmas within the medical community. Despite their high prevalence and burden on healthcare systems, DGBIs remain underrepresented in curricula and poorly resourced, especially in countries like Italy, where surveys reveal insufficient diagnostics and clinical infrastructure. Expanding education, multidisciplinary care, and institutional support is essential to improve patient outcomes and attract more young gastroenterologists to the field.
Teladoc Health has launched a next-generation Cardiometabolic Health Program aimed at preventing and managing diabetes, hypertension, and obesity by addressing key lifestyle and biomarker metrics such as diet, sleep, stress, and blood pressure. The enhanced program includes personalized coaching, at-home testing, connected device integration, and places 100% of program fees at risk, reflecting Teladoc’s confidence in improving population health outcomes.
Once hyped and then humbled, the microbiome therapeutics field is entering a promising new phase, driven by FDA approvals, improved clinical trial outcomes (particularly in C. difficile and GvHD), and advances in manufacturing and automation. Despite ongoing regulatory and commercialization hurdles, the sector is poised to evolve from a niche concept into a foundational pillar of precision medicine, offering scalable, data-driven treatments for complex conditions like IBD and metabolic disorders.
mBIOTA Labs announced promising results from the first prospective clinical trial of its elemental diet, mBIOTA Elemental™, showing high effectiveness in treating SIBO and IMO with a 100% patient compliance rate and up to 83% eradication of SIBO. The palatable formula also led to 82% symptom improvement, notable visceral fat loss, and reduced brain fog, setting a new standard for tolerability and outcomes in elemental nutrition for GI disorders.
GI Partners of Illinois has partnered with Athelas to adopt its AI-powered revenue cycle management (RCM) platform. This collaboration aims to streamline claims processing, cut denials, and enhance financial performance while allowing the practice to focus more on patient care.
In this episode of the CEO Podcast, we chat with Beth Houck, the passionate and driven CEO of SonarMD. Beth takes us through her inspiring journey—from being the right-hand person at several startups to finally stepping into the CEO role in 2021. She opens up about the highs and lows of leading a healthcare startup, how SonarMD is changing the game in managing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and why company culture is at the heart of everything she does.
What happens when a data scientist with IBS meets a digital health operator scaling virtual GI care? You get more than an acquisition—you get a glimpse of where gastroenterology is headed.On this episode of The Scope Forward Show, Asaf Kraus (founder of Dieta Health) and Bill Snyder (founder & CEO of Cylinder Health) join me to announce Dieta’s acquisition. But we didn’t stop at the deal. We talked AI, clinical outcomes, and why digestive health—despite affecting millions—remains underrecognized in digital health. Cylinder has already served 100,000 patients. GI care represents a $136 billion market, mostly buried in fragmented smaller markets. That’s starting to change.Asaf’s…
In 2024 and into 2025, a new wave of strategic buyers—pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and medical supply distributors—have entered the physician practice management (PPM) M&A space, reshaping the market after years of stagnation. These buyers are motivated by vertical integration, diversification, and a desire to control care delivery. Despite persistent headwinds such as regulatory scrutiny, rising interest rates, staffing challenges, and decreased Medicare reimbursements, strategic deals surged. Notable acquisitions include Cencora’s $4.6B purchase of Retina Consultants of America and Cardinal Health’s $2.8B investment in GI Alliance.
Novo Nordisk has signed a $1 billion deal with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals for exclusive global rights to LX9851, an experimental oral drug targeting obesity and metabolic disorders. The agreement gives Lexicon $75 million upfront, with additional milestone-based payments. LX9851 targets fat metabolism and has shown enhanced weight loss effects when combined with Novo’s semaglutide (Wegovy). The deal is part of Novo Nordisk’s aggressive strategy to expand its obesity portfolio amid rising global demand and competition from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.