Lazar Partners Hosts First Annual "Advances in Women's Gastrointestinal Health" Conference

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Oct 31, 2011) - Lazar Partners Ltd., the country's leading communications consultancy to innovative medical device and biotech companies focused on the gastroenterology market, hosted its first annual "Advances in Women's Gastrointestinal Health" conference on October 27 in Washington, DC. Attended by senior executives representing 20 of the nation's most important women's organizations, GI advocacy groups and medical societies, the meeting was designed to promote a dialog between industry and leading advocates to provoke change and improved education and awareness of GI diseases in women.

"Lazar Partners recognizes the important clinical differences between men and women when it comes to digestive health," said Robynne Chutkan, MD, FASGE, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Georgetown University Hospital and Founder and Medical Director of the Digestive Center for Women. "Conversations such as this one about the critical impact of hormonal, anatomical and physiological influences are a crucial part of improving digestive health in the community."

Presenters highlighted gender-specific gastroenterology issues and recent technology advances that are changing how doctors prevent, diagnose and treat a broad range of GI diseases including cancer and inflammatory bowel diseases, an often debilitating set of conditions that affect women at a rate of 2 to 1 compared to men.

Dr. Chutkan moderated the conference and was joined by featured speakers:

• Nancy C. Lee, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health - Women's Health and the Director of the Office on Women's Health (OWH) in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who discussed the role of the Affordable Care Act and future benefits.
• Phyllis E. Greenberger, MSW, President & CEO, Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR), who shared the need for attention to gender-specific distinctions in healthcare.

"As leaders in advising innovative GI companies how to communicate with all of their stakeholders, we believe that a constructive dialog between industry, physicians and the advocacy community is vital to public disease awareness and education that ultimately can save lives," said Fern Lazar, CEO of Lazar Partners. "Lazar Partners prides itself on its unparalleled understanding of the GI field as well as the strong relationships we have built with gastroenterologists, nurses as well as patient groups and medical societies. We look forward to working with the attendees and participants to foster meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships that will help increase awareness of GI diseases, as well as the innovative arsenal of tools that physicians are using to prevent, diagnose and treat these conditions."

Gastrointestinal disorders often impact women very differently than men. Women often experience gastrointestinal symptoms more frequently than men, and women's clinical presentation and overall response to treatment can vary greatly from those of their male counterparts. Additionally, women make approximately 80 percent of healthcare decisions for their families and are more likely to be the caregivers within the family, making women's understanding of healthcare-related gender differences critical. Leading medical device and pharmaceutical companies presented the latest advances for diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal disorders. Among the presenting companies were:

Avantis Medical, developer of the Third Eye Retroscope, a disposable, catheter-based camera used with a colonoscope to provide improved detection of precancerous polyps.

CDx Diagnostics, an innovator in computer-aided brush diagnostics for the digestive tract used to non-invasively collect a broad, full thickness tissue specimen of a suspect lesion for laboratory analysis.

Given Imaging, capsule endoscopy pioneer, now offering a broad range of visualization and diagnostic technologies proven to impact the way physicians manage their patients' treatment.

Pentax Medical Company, a leader in endoscopic imaging, specializing in the development of high-definition endoscopy equipment to help physicians better understand patient conditions.

Tranzyme Pharma, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to help patients who suffer from upper GI motility disorders.

About Lazar Partners Ltd.
Founded in 2001, the Lazar Partners' team works with companies in the healthcare sector to advance their marketing communications, investor relations and public relations goals. Our clients pioneer scientific and medical innovation. We help them tell their stories by communicating the right messages at the right time to the right audiences: patients, physicians, third-party organizations, investors or potential business partners. For more information, please visit: www.lazarpartners.com