A patient has just been implanted with a new remote-controlled sphincter and “will be able to return to a normal social life”, assures doctor Philippe Pauletti.

According to the Health Insurance, more than 2.5 million people in France suffer from urinary incontinence. This is a very serious problem and is likely to become more important in the coming years with the aging of the population.

Philip Poletti, Doctor In Medicine, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Truffle Capital, Made many Companies specializing in medical research. And‘Them one, A rich physician, having just implanted a new type of sphincter, Because it is remote control. It explains, Tuesday March 12, on franceinfo, K“Science and technology have no limits as long as you give yourself the time and significant financial resources”.

franceinfo: What is new about this artificial sphincter?

Philip Poletti : It is a small box that is implanted in the patient’s abdomen in about thirty minutes, with a small motor that will control this small sleeve that the urologist will install around the patient’s urethra. For patients suffering from severe urinary incontinence, you don’t die from it, but it’s terrible: you no longer have a social life, you can no longer control your bladder. And with this tiny remote control that looks like a car remote control, the patient will be able to close or open his sphincter when he needs to urinate, so he will no longer need diapers. He will be able to return to normal social life, go to the cinema, go to restaurants.

We’ve been doing sphincter implants for over 20 years, what’s the difference?

There was a sphincter that was developed 40 years ago, it was very uncomfortable, difficult for patients to support and difficult to control. This is a huge difference compared to the present. And the surprising thing is that very few companies have so far shown interest in this very serious problem.

How many people are affected?

400 million people worldwide, mostly women and some men. What is this due to? Bladder cancer, prostate cancer in men, repeated pregnancies with weakening of the muscles that control the bladder in women.

“The first patient has been successfully transplanted in the presence of a well-known surgeon from the Cochin Hospital in Prague.”

Philip Poletti

franceinfo

Of course, we need to be careful because we still have to take care of about ten, fifteen patients in Prague, Poland. Then, there will be a large clinical trial in Europe involving about 70 patients, before the product, if the results are satisfactory, is introduced to the European, American and Asian markets.

Is your role lending?

What we do is build businesses. When we see that there is a huge need, we think that science, technology, in a few years, can develop a product that will meet this need, whether it is for urinary incontinence, for heart valves, for anti-obesity products… it That attracts us. Our goal is to make these highly innovative products available to millions of patients worldwide.

If you don’t fund them, no one will? Public research doesn’t do it?

No, because the mission of public research is to do science too early. We are going to convert a great scientific research into a technology, into a product. And developing an implantable product in humans takes years, whether in cardiology or urology, and is therefore very expensive. But that’s what we do at Truffle Capital, with companies like Affluent that are listed on the stock exchange, but need about ten years to put a product on the market.

You are specifically at the root of one of the first artificial hearts, Carmet. Today, its success is mixed…

No, Carmet’s success is proven, as Hart has been approved for marketing in Europe. It’s a Rolls, it’s a Ferrari, Carmet has a heart, there’s no equal. So it takes time. But it’s like Tesla who revolutionized the automobile: for years, people said “Stop, it will never work, it costs too much, etc.”.