Cook Medical to market Zelegent’s ‘facelift for the soft palate’

Zelegent’s Elevoplasty device shortens, elevates and stiffens the soft palate to prevent snoring.

Just a month after receiving FDA 510(k) approval for its new anti-snoring device, startup Zelegent has signed a marketing agreement with Cook Medical, the companies announced.

Zelegent’s Elevo kit snoring intervention device employs specially shaped, resorbable, barbed sutures to lift the soft palate by1-4 millimeters, expanding the mean diameter of the airway. In a typical snoring patient who doesn’t have sleep apnea, the airway is just barely obstructed by the soft palate, the company said on its website. The procedure, which shortens, suspends, and stiffens a patient’s soft palate, takes place in a physician’s office, without surgery or general anesthesia. Zelegent likened it to a “facelift for the soft palate.”

A clinical trial sponsored by the La Jolla-based company was completed In 2017. Zelegent’s “Elevoplasty” procedure received a U.S. patent in 2018.

“This collaboration with Cook Medical is the next step in bringing Elevoplasty to the offices of both sleep disorder specialists and otolaryngologists,” said Zelegent CEO Alexander Arrow, M.D., in a prepared statement. “We are pleased that the value of this innovative procedure has attracted such a well-trusted company in the (ear, nose and throat) device space.”

Cook Medical will provide global sales, marketing, and distribution support. The company’s otolaryngology-head and neck surgery team sells minimally invasive products to treat obstructive salivary gland disorders, as well as head and neck advanced-tissue repair grafts. This agreement allows Cook Medical to expand its product portfolio to include treatment options for snoring.

“We saw a need for new options to help patients struggling with snoring,” said Thomas Cherry, global business leader of the Cook team. “We found that Zelegent’s solution aligns perfectly with Cook Medical’s mission to support minimally invasive procedures, and we are excited to help bring this technology to patients in the near future.”

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