Accomplia

Rimonabant diet treatment blocks circuitry in brain that gives body cravingsAcomplia Rimonabant ( accomplia ), is a new treatment which helps fat loss by helping people quit smoking and lose weight at the same time.

The in-development diet drug, rimonabant acomplia, which could be available in a year or two, works by an entirely new approach — by blocking the same primeval circuitry in the brain that gives pot-smokers the munchies.
Diet and weight loss Doctors who heard data on the new treatment said that while better living habits should still be the foundation of good health, a new treatment could be an important boost for those who cannot lose weight through willpower alone.

We tell people to diet and exercise, and that advice doesn’t seem to be very effective,” said Dr. Raymond Gibbons of the Mayo Clinic, who called the latest results ”very provocative.”

The French firm Sanofi-Synthelabo, which plans to seek U.S. approval to sell it under the brand Acomplia after more studies are finished next year.

Helped dieters drop 20 pounds in a year

One study found the drug helped people drop 20 pounds in a year, while the other concluded it doubles smokers’ success at quitting, at least in the short run. Doctors said the drug is likely to be marketed both for dieting and smoking cessation, but it is likely to be especially appealing to people beset by both problems.

”We think this might be the ideal compound for people who are overweight and smoke,” said Dr. Robert Anthenelli of the University of Cincinnati, who directed the smoking study.

Doctors say accomplia is also noteworthy because it takes a fresh approach to helping people overcome their yearning for food and tobacco. It is the first of a class of medicines that block the so-called endocannabinoid system.

Marijuana makes people ravenous by stimulating this circuitry. The same biological machinery serves crucial everyday purposes by helping the brain regulate hunger and probably other urges, including alcohol craving.

Overeating and smoking can overstimulate this system, which in turn propels people to eat and smoke still more. By temporarily blocking the body’s ability to receive these signals, experts believe they can return the system’s working to normal.

In the larger of the two studies, Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Laval University in Quebec City enrolled 1,036 overweight volunteers, all with big potbellies that put them at especially high risk of heart problems. They were urged to cut 600 calories a day and randomly given either rimonabant or dummy treatments.

Lost 10 percent of their body weight

After a year, those who got the higher of two doses of rimonabant had lost an average of 20 pounds and trimmed three inches from their waistlines. Nearly half of them took off 10 percent of their body weight. By comparison, those on placebos lost just five pounds.

Those getting rimonabant improved in other ways, too. Their levels of HDL, the protective good cholesterol, rose 23 percent, while their triglycerides fell 15 percent.

Despres said people taking the drug simply felt less hungry. In an earlier phase of the research, he could tell which volunteers were on the medicine by watching who passed up chocolate cake at the buffet table.

”The bottom line is we found a spectacular drop in waistlines and changes in many other risk factors that are beyond what you would ordinarily expect,” Despres said.

Anthenelli’s study tested the drug for 10 weeks on 787 pack-a-day smokers who wanted to quit but could not. A longer follow-up will see how well they stay off, but in the short run, 28 percent shunned cigarettes for at least a month, compared with 16 percent on dummy treatments.

Especially important for acomplia, Anthenelli said, is that those on the gained little or no weight, and a third of the successful quitters actually took off pounds of weight at the same time. Ordinarily, smokers gain six to 10 pounds when they quit.

Some people had minor digestive side effects at first, but they usually went away.