Allergan Inc. of Irvine said Monday that it would co-promote its Lap-Band weight loss system with Covidien Ltd.
Lap-Band, which Allergan picked up in last year’s $3.2 billion deal for Inamed Corp., is a device that’s surgically implanted around the stomach to help morbidly obese patients lose weight by forcing them to limit their food intake.
Lap-Band is seen as a less-invasive alternative to traditional gastric bypass surgery for weight loss.
Under the deal, Covidien, which was once the healthcare unit of Tyco International Ltd., will co-promote Lap-Band to bariatric and other surgeons in the U.S.
Covidien sales representatives are going to educate and train surgeons on Lap-Band, which costs about $12,000 to $20,000 per procedure.
Covidien was created this summer, when Tyco spun it off as a separate company.
Until recently, Allergan faced virtually no competition for gastric banding. In September, the Food and Drug Administration approved Realize, a gastric banding system made by Johnson & Johnson.
