top of page
Doctor's Desk

Founded to Improve Women's Quality of Life.

"Our vision is to revolutionize women’s healthcare through innovative, minimally invasive technologies, empowering a future where every woman can access life-changing treatments for pelvic health conditions with dignity, ease, and effectiveness."

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our mission is to restore confidence, freedom, and control in the lives of women globally, through accessible, effective, and compassionate healthcare innovations.

Beyond ODS, Altyx has additional technologies slated for launch that are focused on improved and less invasive treatment of female urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

Altyx has developed groundbreaking new technologies, for frequently ignored women’s pelvic health conditions including the first minimally invasive solution for female obstructed defecation.

What We Do

Revolutionary, Minimally Invasive Solutions

Board of Directors

Ghazaleh Rostami Nia, MD, MSc

Prolific researcher, leading expert in advanced pelvic floor ultrasound imaging and biomechanical analysis of pelvic floor support and urogynecology. Clinical Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and Director of Research, NorthShore University Health System.  Dr. Rostami is well published in the field of urogynecology, specifically imaging and ultrasound, with more than 100 peer reviewed publications, presentations, and book chapters.

Roger Goldberg, MD MPH

Roger Goldberg completed his undergraduate degree at Cornell University, medical degree at Northwestern University, residency at Beth Israel Deaconess / Harvard University, Master’s degree at Johns Hopkins University, and fellowship in Urogynecology at Northwestern University. He is Director of the Division of Urogynecology and Female Pelvic Surgery at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, NorthShore, and led their FPMRS fellowship training program for 15 years. Dr. Goldberg is widely published in the field of urogynecology, with over 100 peer-review scientific articles and book chapters, and has authored two books including “Urogynecology for the Primary Care Provider” (Springer, 2006), and “Ever Since I Had My Baby” (Random House, 2003), the first book on post-childbirth pelvic floor disorders written for childbearing women. He has served on the Board of Directors for the American Urogynecology Society (AUGS), chair of the Health Care Policy committee, and co-director for the AUGS Surgical Master Class and AUGS Annual Clinical Course. His division’s research has received awards from all major societies including AUGS, IUGA, ICS and SGS; additionally, Dr. Goldberg holds numerous medical device patents, and has introduced surgical procedures for pelvic organ prolapse that have been adopted and studied worldwide. He has lectured and performed surgery on patients throughout the US and internationally, and has led volunteer surgical missions to areas of need including Nepal, India and Honduras.

Doug Scherr, MD

Dr. Douglas Scherr is a Professor of Urology and the Chief of Urologic Oncology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. Dr. Scherr received his undergraduate degree in Government at Cornell University. Dr. Scherr completed his medical training at The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Following this he completed a 6-year residency in Urology at The New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. Subsequently, Dr. Scherr then went on to pursue a Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York for two years. Beginning in 2001, Dr. Scherr has been on the full-time faculty in the Department of Urology at Cornell where he has his current appointment. Dr. Scherr has an active laboratory and has conducted extensive research and has been the recipient of numerous awards and research grants. He has been involved in medical device innovation for more than 15 years.​

Teodora Zobel

Teodora is the Chief Investment Officer at Midwood Investment and Development, a vertically-integrated national development, investment and management firm headquartered in New York City. Teodora is responsible for all aspects of Midwood's investment strategy - including sourcing, evaluating, and structuring transactions, as well as long-term capital planning. Prior to joining Midwood over a decade ago, Teodora worked at Cushman and Wakefield in the Global Consulting group where she focused on real estate optimization strategies for a broad range of public, private and non-profit clients. Teodora started her career in the Economic and Valuation Consulting group at KPMG LLP. Teodora received her MBA from NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a dual Bachelor's Degree in Finance and Accounting from Lehigh University's College of Business and Economics. Teodora is on the board of Women in Need, a non-profit organization that provides shelter to families in New York City. She is also a member of Rebny, WX and other industry organizations.

Management Team

Costas Manganiotis

Costas Manganiotis is the Chief Operating Officer & President. He comes from Lexington Medical, a surgical stapling company, where he served as their Vice President, General Manager for International over the past two years. Prior to Lexington Medical Costas worked for Boston Scientific for 17 years holding various general management, marketing and sales roles in Latin America primarily with their urology and women’s health division. While at Boston Scientific he achieved high multi-year growth rates and built strong commercial teams. Costas started his career at Nestle where he spent seven years in finance, marketing and sales positions in the United States and Latin America. He holds a Master of International Management from Thunderbird, Graduate School of International Management, and an MBA and MS from the University of Florida. Costas is a native of Greece and completed his undergraduate studies at the Agricultural University of Athens.

Altyx Updates

Breakthrough Device Designation 

ODiSi™, a new type of treatment for ODS, has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, which is awarded to devices with the potential for "significant advantages over existing approved or cleared alternatives to include reducing or eliminating the need for hospitalization, improving patient quality of life, facilitating the patients’ ability to manage their own care or establishing long-term clinical efficiencies”.

Altyx Update:

National Science Foundation

SBIR Phase I & II:

National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I & II awarded for "mesh free, sling free, minimally invasive treatment for stress urinary incontinence."

Altyx Update:

Altyx in the Press

Photo-by-Imani-Bahati-on-Unsplash-770x513.jpg

Giving Women Their Bodies Back: Many Post-Pregnancy Pelvic Health Problems Can Be Treated in Less Than an Hour — A Top Doctor Explains 
In this interview with Better Magazine, Dr. Roger Goldberg discusses some of the most common female Pelvic Floor Disorders like Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP), Bladder disorders, and Obstructed Defecation Syndrome (ODS).

FAQ

  • Yes, absolutely.

     

    ODS patients are always encouraged to start with non-surgical strategies, and some patients might get enough relief by combining a healthy diet, exercise and hydration with over-the-counter remedies. Bulking agents (such as Fibercon or Benefiber) and certain approved laxatives (such as Miralax), can be useful for many women with ODS.

     

    We recommend consulting first with your primary care physician or gastroenterologist, to determine the strategies that best match your symptoms. Unfortunately, statistics show that conservative treatments result in improvement for only 30% of ODS patients, leaving many women to seek other options. ODiSi™ will change the landscape for these women, providing the first minimally invasive repair solution for ODS cases that are unresponsive to natural and behavioral management.

  • ODiSi™ is an intravaginal para-rectal elevation system for obstructed defecation syndrome (ODS), which represents 30% of constipation cases in women.

     

    This condition has a major impact on quality of life, and existing surgical techniques involve invasive abdominal surgery methods with frequent use of mesh. In contrast, ODiSi™ is a mesh-free, transvaginal procedure performed in less than 30 minutes and requiring no overnight hospital stay; it will soon provide a long awaited option for millions of women with ODS.

  • ImPRES™ recently received the prestigious Breakthrough Technology status from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the FDA, this means the device is believed to have “significant advantages over existing approved or cleared alternatives to include reducing or eliminating the need for hospitalization, improving patient quality of life, facilitating the patients’ ability to manage their own care or establishing long-term clinical efficiencies."

     

    ODiSi™ provides the first minimally invasive solution for the treatment of ODS in women, and the FDA Breakthrough designation will expedite and prioritize its pathway to commercialization, and its impact on the large population of women silently suffering from ODS.

  • Unlike some other pelvic reconstructive procedures that use mesh, ODiSi™ is a 100% mesh-free procedure.

  • Not necessarily. It’s very important to work with your physician, to distinguish between ODS which is an outlet / emptying problem at the level of the pelvic floor, from other types of “upper GI” constipation which may result from other causes such as hypomotility (“lazy bowel”). Patients who complain mainly of infrequent bowel movements, in the absence of ODS symptoms (such as the feeling of ‘stuck stools’, splinting and need for positional changes) are less likely to have ODS as their primary issue. 


    Management of upper GI constipation is important for everyone — and begins with a discussion with your healthcare provider, and usually attention to fiber intake, hydration, exercise and sometimes prescription medication.

  • Yes, Altyx has a suite of upcoming pelvic floor solutions, including a next-generation repair system for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and also technologies focused on pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair. Stay tuned for upcoming information as the Altyx launch date approaches.

  • Pelvic physiotherapy is an excellent consideration for many women with constipation, ODS, and other PFD’s such as urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. While it is unlikely to help with all PFD’s, it’s very often worth a try. In fact, while awaiting a PT referral or appointment, many women can reduce symptoms by performing pelvic floor exercise on their own.