Morphic Medical marks first commercial use of obesity, diabetes treatment in UK

Endoscopic treatment from Morphic Medical marks first commercial use: ©New Africa - stock.adobe.com

Morphic Medical said its non-surgical treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes, RESET, has been used for the first time outside of a clinical trial, marking a milestone in the therapy’s rollout across Europe.

The procedure was performed Sept. 19 at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London by Professor Bu’Hussain Hayee, the trust’s clinical director for liver, endoscopy and gastroenterology. The treatment, which takes less than 30 minutes and requires no surgery, was completed without complications, the company said Monday.

RESET is a thin sleeve that lines the upper part of the intestine for up to nine months. By altering how food is absorbed and how hunger signals are processed, it can help patients lose weight and improve blood sugar control. Unlike bariatric surgery, RESET is inserted and removed using a simple endoscopy procedure and is fully reversible.

“Treating our first commercial patient with RESET is a defining moment for Morphic,” Mike Gutteridge, president and CEO of Morphic Medical, said in a statement. “RESET delivers substantial, durable improvements in both weight and blood sugar control, and does so through a safe, minimally invasive and fully reversible procedure.”

The therapy was recently approved for commercial use by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency after receiving CE Mark certification from the European Commission in July. Morphic has already begun offering the procedure in Germany and plans to expand to other European Union countries.

Data from the world’s largest registry of RESET patients, covering more than 1,200 cases in 12 countries, showed patients lost an average of 18.9% of their body weight and reduced their long-term blood sugar levels by 1.3 percentage points. Benefits persisted well after the device was removed, with 77% of patients maintaining improvements three years later, according to the company.

Hayee, who performed the inaugural U.K. procedure, said RESET provides “an important new option for people living with obesity and type 2 diabetes.”

“It’s a minimally invasive procedure that can be done in 30 minutes, with patients going home the same day, and no alteration to anatomy,” Hayee said. “We also know that the benefits last well beyond the removal of the device.”

Obesity affects more than one in four adults in the U.K., and diabetes costs the National Health Service an estimated £14 billion annually.

Advances in non-surgical treatments for obesity and diabetes

The growing global burden of obesity and type 2 diabetes has driven a surge of innovation in non-surgical treatment options, many of which aim to provide effective alternatives to invasive bariatric surgery or lifelong drug therapy. Researchers and clinicians are increasingly focused on therapies that can be delivered quickly, reversed easily, and integrated into routine healthcare systems.

One major area of progress involves endoscopic devices and minimally invasive implants designed to modify the digestive tract. These technologies work by altering how food is absorbed or by influencing hormonal signals between the gut and the brain, which play a critical role in regulating hunger and glucose control. By using thin sleeves, balloons, or other structures placed in the stomach or intestine, patients can experience substantial weight loss and improvements in blood sugar management without undergoing permanent surgical changes.

Real-world studies have shown that such approaches can reduce average body weight by double-digit percentages while also lowering long-term measures of blood glucose. In some cases, benefits have persisted for years after the device was removed, suggesting that metabolic “reset” effects may extend beyond the treatment period. This durability is seen as especially important for addressing type 2 diabetes, which requires ongoing management to prevent complications.

Alongside device-based treatments, new nutritional and lifestyle interventions are being combined with these minimally invasive techniques to enhance their effectiveness. Clinicians are also exploring hybrid approaches that use short-term endoscopic procedures as a bridge to longer-term therapies, tailoring treatment to the patient’s metabolic profile.

With obesity now affecting more than one in five adults across Europe and diabetes consuming a growing share of healthcare budgets, health systems are closely watching these innovations. The hope is that by offering scalable, reversible, and cost-effective solutions, the latest generation of treatments can ease the pressure on hospitals while giving patients safer and more flexible options for long-term disease management.