Major New Study Presented at the World’s Largest Gastroenterology Congress
Validation of Mauna Kea’s Growth Strategy with CellTolerance® in a $6 Billion a Year
Market Opportunity
Paris and Boston, October 17, 2024 – 08:00 a.m. CEST – Mauna Kea Technologies (Euronext Growth: ALMKT), inventor of Cellvizio®, the multidisciplinary probe and needle-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (p/nCLE) platform, today announces that new clinical data demonstrating the value of Cellvizio® in the detection, understanding, and treatment of food intolerances leading to gut barrier dysfunction in patients suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), were presented at UEG Week 2024, the world’s largest gastroenterology congress.
Conducted by Prof. Jost Langhorst at Bamberg Hospital and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, the study highlights the value of Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (CLE) to guide personalized therapy and improve symptom management in patients suffering from IBS.
In this study, 119 patients suffering from IBS were screened using Cellvizio® during a food challenge to detect primary and food-induced gut barrier dysfunctions. Of these patients, 62% showed a response to a food challenge in the form of an impaired intestinal barrier. Patients with identified dysfunctions were treated with a multimodal approach, including an elimination diet of the problematic foods identified by the unique imaging provided by Cellvizio®.
After approximately six months, 71% of patients who returned for a follow-up procedure using Cellvizio® showed improvement in barrier integrity, with 46% achieving full stabilization. Clinical outcomes included significant improvements in IBS severity, quality of life, and psychological well-being, with particular relief from abdominal pain, cramping, and stool irregularities.
Prof. Jost Langhorst, gastroenterologist, Department for Internal and Integrative Medicine, Klinikum Bamberg, stated: “I am very pleased with the results of this study which represent a step forward in managing IBS, as Cellvizio® offers real-time assessment of gut barrier dysfunction, aiding in a more accurate diagnosis for patients with IBS. This technology could lead to more personalized and effective treatment options. Encouragingly, most patients show improvement in gut barrier integrity after treatment and food elimination, often accompanied by a notable reduction in symptoms. These findings suggest that Cellvizio® may serve as a valuable tool in improving IBS management for a large group of patients.”
Sacha Loiseau, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Mauna Kea Technologies, commented: “These results once again confirm the unique and unrivalled role of Cellvizio® in the identification and treatment of food intolerances. This is a major breakthrough for tens of millions of patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), desperately seeking treatments and solutions to relieve their symptoms. Every day, we are accumulating new positive data and seeing a very strong interest from doctors, nutritionists and patients, at a level never seen before. It’s clear that we have an application here that could finally ensure Mauna Kea’s success in an extremely attractive market, which is currently very accessible given the low barriers to entry, supported by a fully mature technology. As a result, starting in the fourth quarter, we will be stepping up the development of CellTolerance® and have already initiated active discussions with several centers to roll out this program.”