IntraPace's Fat-Zapping Implant, Abiliti

Katrin Falb, a 33-year-old dietitian in Nuremberg, Germany, has struggled with her weight since her early teens. She’s tried everything from Weight Watchers to acupuncture to keep off the pounds. Now Falb may have found the answer to her woes with a device implanted near her stomach.

Made by IntraPace of Mountain View, Calif., the implant, called Abiliti, is the size of a half-inch stack of business cards and sends electrical pulses to the stomach to make people feel full with smaller meals. It also sends signals to the brain to discourage snacking between meals and late at night. Developed with investments from U.S. medical device makers Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, and others, it has helped Falb lose 51 pounds since her surgery in March 2011. “I work in a hospital kitchen,” says Falb. “If you have food in your sight eight hours a day, you eat a little piece of this, and a piece of that, all day. Nobody controls me. Abiliti is my coach.”