FDA regulators accept for review EnteroMedics’ premarket approval application for the Maestro VBLOC vagal blocking therapy as a treatment for obesity.

Minnesota medical devices maker EnteroMedics (NSDQ:ETRM) touted today that the FDA had accepted for review the company’s premarket approval submission of the Maestro Rechargeable System’s VBLOC implant, a neurostimulation device for treating obesity.
The news sent ETRM shares skyrocketing, trading up by nearly a quarter by the early afternoon today.
The VBLOC system stimulates the vagus nerve, located between the stomach and the esophagus, in order to alter a patient’s eating habits by modifying their physiological cravings.