Figures cited from EndoQuest Robotics’ Business Wire release of 5 November 2026 and MPO coverage the same day, verified 9 November 2026. General information, not legal or regulatory advice. Confirm current MINSA, CNBI, and FDA rules with qualified advisers. We name only the investigator, hospital, and procedures those sources support. EndoQuest Robotics is not claimed as a bioaccess® client.
If you searched Dr. Richard Altieri Pérez, Richard Altieri Panama Clinic, EndoQuest Panama, robotic transoral gastric surgery Panama, or “go direct to the surgeon in Panama,” you followed an investigator name a 5 November 2026 press release put into the public file. Dr. Altieri is a real, named local principal investigator. He is not the operator of the first-in-human file.
bioaccess®’s position is simple and it is not adversarial: the investigator and The Panama Clinic are the site. The First-in-Human CRO still owns MINSA and CNBI-registered ethics review, investigational import, insurance, ISO 14155 monitoring, and the FDA 21 CFR 812.28 package — plus the option to add Colombia or another Latin American country. The facility page stays on its own URL: The Panama Clinic first-in-human. This page answers the investigator-name query.
What the public record says
On 5 November 2026, EndoQuest Robotics, Inc. (Houston) announced two robotic transoral gastric reconstruction procedures with its investigational Endoluminal Surgical (ELS) System, building on transoral outlet reduction (TORe) for post-gastric-bypass patients. The company called them the world’s first fully robotic transoral gastric procedures and the ELS System’s first clinical use in the upper GI tract, and the release describes it as a first-in-human use in endobariatrics.
The release says the procedures were performed at The Panama Clinic in Panama City, led by Dr. Todd Wilson, EndoQuest’s Chief Medical Officer and Professor of Surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, with local principal investigator Dr. Richard Altieri Pérez, a general surgeon at The Panama Clinic who specializes in minimally invasive and robotic surgery with a focus on bariatric and metabolic procedures. Dr. Altieri is quoted calling it “this first-in-human study.”
The release does not name a CRO. It does not give a study name, a ClinicalTrials.gov number, or results from the two cases. MPO and other trade outlets repeated the same facts. MPO and the company note EndoQuest completed enrollment in its U.S. PARADIGM trial (lower-GI) in July 2026. The ELS System is investigational.
A named surgeon is a site. The CRO is the operator.
A robotic-trained bariatric surgeon in Panama City can provide the hands, the patients, the operating room, and a strong local voice. That is necessary. It is not sufficient for a first-in-human robotic study that a U.S. board and the FDA will later read.
- MINSA and CNBI. Panama’s Ministry of Health and institutional bioethics committees registered with the Comité Nacional de Bioética de la Investigación are the national file, not an email to a surgeon.
- Investigational import of a robotic platform and its instruments — see importer of record for clinical trial devices in Latin America.
- Foreign proctors and field engineers in the room — see foreign proctors and field engineers in Latin American FIH.
- ISO 14155 monitoring, EDC, SAE reporting, and the TMF.
- The 21 CFR 812.28 package. Foreign data is eligible for FDA submission and review when the study meets that rule’s GCP and ethics documentation. Eligibility is not clearance.
What is not claimed here
- That bioaccess® ran or monitored the EndoQuest cases, or that EndoQuest is a bioaccess® client.
- Any outcome data; none was published.
- Any study number; none was published.
- Anything about Dr. Altieri beyond what the 5 November 2026 release states.
Frequently asked questions
Can I contract Dr. Altieri directly for my device?
You can ask. A surgeon can discuss interest and feasibility. He cannot become your MINSA applicant, importer of record, insurer, ISO 14155 monitor, or 21 CFR 812.28 packager by being named in a press release.
Is this the same page as The Panama Clinic?
No. The facility has its own intercept, The Panama Clinic first-in-human, and another Panama Clinic investigator has his own: Dr. Juan Osorio, Chondrograft.
Does bioaccess® still run trials in Colombia?
Yes. bioaccess® still runs clinical trials in Colombia, alongside Panama and the rest of the platform.
Next step
If the search that brought you here was Dr. Richard Altieri Pérez, EndoQuest, or robotic transoral surgery in Panama, start with the operator: contact bioaccess® or see First-in-Human CRO. Panama: Clinical trials in Panama, Panama first-in-human CRO checklist. Hub: ClinicalTrials.gov FIH sites vs the CRO.