CARMEL VALLEY - Far out: a chamber that takes the body through a simulated 22,000-foot increase and decrease in altitude and gives you much of the conditioning benefits of climbing Mt. Everest without the risk of death and the expense of buying mountaineering gear.

Invest in this: a reversible stomach constriction device that can be inserted in 30 minutes without piercing the skin.

And then there were the "Why Didn't I Think of That" and the "Life-Changing" categories in the 2007 DeviceFest awards from Biocom, San Diego's life sciences trade group.

The awards were given last week at the event, held at Neurocrine Biosciences in Carmel Valley. Temecula-based CVAC Systems won the "Far Out" award for its physical conditioning technology. Endomorphix of Rancho Bernardo grabbed the "I Would Invest In This" prize for its Slendura weight-reduction system.

Also winning were Tristan Technologies and Cytori Therapeutics, both of Sorrento Valley.

Endomorphix's Slendura is a device that restricts the stomach to cause weight loss. It's inserted through the esophagus in an outpatient procedure. It's also reversible, unlike gastric bypass surgery, which permanently reduces the size of the stomach.

The target patient for Slendura is someone who is severely obese, but falls short of the "morbidly obese" category, said Brian Kelleher, Endomorphix president and chief executive officer, on Monday. Insurance will not pay for Slendura, so patients will need to pay on their own. At this point, it is still in the development phase, so it hasn't been priced yet.

Several other competitors are trying to do the same thing as Endomorphix, Kelleher said. The tricky part is making sure the stomach retains its smaller state while the device is in place.

"We think we've got the best approach to getting a long-term, durable restriction, so if someone wants to keep it for a year or two or more, then if they wanted they could have it undone," Kelleher said.

Animal studies have been successful, he said, and human trials with Slendura are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2008.

CVAC, or Cyclic Variations in Altitude Conditioning, is a podlike device that raises and lowers air pressure and oxygen concentration.

The pressure changes alternately compress and decompress the body. The periods of reduced oxygen and air pressure cause the body to produce more red blood cells, said Allan Ruszkowski, president and chief executive of the company.

Nitric oxide is the underlying cause of many beneficial effects that experimental studies attribute to the CVAC device. Among its functions, it is important in keeping blood vessels healthy. A recent scientific study by researchers at Duke University in North Carolina pointed to a lack of nitric oxide in stored blood as a factor in bad reactions to transfusions. Nitric oxide causes blood vessels to dilate. This is the mechanism by which Viagra works on impotence, and nitroglycerine relieves chest pains caused by tightened blood vessels.

The CVAC device's most immediate use is for conditioning athletes, but it's also being explored as a way of treating insulin-resistant diabetes and may even counteract aging-related diseases. Ruszkowski said.

Ruszkowski said the technology sounds strange, but that's typical of new kinds of devices when they're first introduced.

"In the beginning, it sounds wacky: You take people and put them inside of a chamber and take them up to 22,000 feet in simulated altitude and bring them back to sea level in two seconds," Ruszkowski said. "People used to think we were really nuts, until a couple of months ago when the Stanford Center on Longevity started to describe our technology on their Web site. It's added a lot of credibility.

"People have said, wait a minute, if this thing really works the way it might, this is a trillion-dollar market. It could eliminate all the diseases associated with aging, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, breast cancer, colon cancer, infertility."

These potential applications, of course, will require confirmation in human clinical trials.

Cytori received the "Why Didn't I Think of That?" award for its Celution System. The device separates stem cells found in fat tissue from adult donors. The stem cells are then grown, and selected cells then implanted in the patient. The company is now testing the cells in humans to repair damaged hearts. Cytori is also considering testing the cells for reconstructive surgery, such as after mastectomies.

Tristan won the "Life-Changing" award for its "Baby SQUID" device, which detects the extremely faint magnetic fields produced by an infant's brain. It's being tested to help diagnose epilepsy, cerebral palsy and other brain disorders.

This was the second time DeviceFest has been held. It's meant to spark interest in the local medical device community. And it apparently succeeded, attracting more than 200 people and 16 entries, some from as far away as Orange County.

- Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com.