Pill shows new hope in battle against obesity Drug is the 1st to...

Pill shows new hope in battle against obesity

Drug is the 1st to target brain's pleasure center
November 10, 2004







FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES



NEW ORLEANS -- Tired of riding the all-meat, no-carb, pineapple-only, strictly-soy, green-fluids-on-Tuesdays bandwagons that promise weight loss -- but which either cramp your lifestyle or don't quite measure up?


Respite from the diet roller coaster may come in the form of an experimental pill.


And because the pill also targets the brain's pleasure center -- the first diet pill to do so -- it's showing some promise in helping smokers kick cigarettes.


The biggest test yet of the drug Acomplia found that it helped people lose pounds and keep them off for two years -- longer than any other diet drug has been able to achieve. Cholesterol and other health measures improved, too. Acomplia is the brand name for the drug rimonabant.


The results from a 2-year study of more than 3,000 obese people were presented at a medical conference Tuesday. French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis made the drug and funded the study.


In a study of 3,040 obese people throughout the United States and Canada, those given the higher of two doses of the drug lost more than 5 percent of their initial body weight, and a third of them lost more than 10 percent.


"They achieved and maintained a weight loss of 19 pounds, as compared to 5.1 pounds in the placebo group," said Dr. Xavier Pi-Sunyer of Columbia University in New York, who led the research and presented results at the American Heart Association conference.


Those who quit taking the pill in the second year of the study regained most of what they'd lost, suggesting that people might have to take the drug indefinitely to maintain a lower weight.


About two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, raising their risk of ailments from cancer and cardiovascular disease to sore joints and snoring.


Acomplia is the first diet drug aimed at blocking the pleasure center of the brain and interfering with the cycle of craving and satisfaction that drives many compulsive behaviors and addictions.


"Weight regulation is really kind of an addictive behavior," said Dr. Robert Eckel, a metabolism expert from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center who had no role in the study.


The study involved people who either were severely or moderately obese and also had another heart-related health problem, such as low rates of so-called good cholesterol, high blood pressure or high blood sugar.


They were urged to cut 600 calories a day from their diet and were randomly assigned to take either a 5- or 20-milligram dose of Acomplia or fake pills. Neither they nor their doctors knew who took which.


After one year, those on the higher dose had lost an average of 19 pounds -- the same result found in two smaller studies of the drug reported earlier this year.


The new study went on to test whether staying on the drug kept people from regaining weight. Those who took Acomplia during the first year were redivided to either continue on it or get fake pills for the second year.


At the end of the two years, 62.5 percent of people on the higher dose had lost 5 percent of their body weight compared with 36.7 percent on the low dose and 33.2 percent on fake pills.


Waistlines shrank 3.1 inches with the higher dose, 1.9 inches with the lower one and 1.5 inches for those on fake pills.


An earlier short-term study found Acomplia helped more people kick cigarettes compared with smokers who took a placebo.


Pi-Sunyer estimated that Sanofi-Synthelabo would file for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval sometime next year.