Acomplia (Accomplia) Rimonabant Review

 

A diet drug that has generated some news is the French drug called "Acomplia Rimonabant." The anti-obesity drug, an appetite suppressant, was created to help people lose fat by blocking circuitry in the brain that gives the body cravings. The drug works by an entirely new approach by blocking the same primeval circuitry in the brain that gives pot-smokers the munchies. The French firm Sanofi-Synthelabo won approval to market it in the European Union in 2006. It is not yet approved in the U.S., where it is known as "Zimulti". A study found that the drug helped people drop 20 pounds in a year.

Doctors say the drug is noteworthy because it takes a different approach to helping people overcome their cravings for food. It is the first of a class of medicines that blocks the so-called endocannabinoid system in the central nervous system.

Marijuana makes people hungry by stimulating this circuitry. The same biology serves crucial everyday purposes by helping the brain regulate hunger, including alcohol craving. Overeating can overstimulate this system, which in turn causes people to eat and smoke more. By temporarily blocking the body's ability to receive these signals, experts believe they can return the system to normal.

In the larger of the two studies, Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Laval University in Quebec City used 1,036 volunteers, all with stomachs that put them at high risk for heart problems. They were urged to cut 600 calories/day and given either accomplia or placebos.

After a year, those who got the higher of two doses of accomplia had lost an average of 20 pounds and trimmed three inches from their waists. Nearly half of them took off 10 percent of their body weight. By comparison, those on placebos lost just five pounds. Those receiving accomplia improved in other ways, as well: their levels of good cholesterol rose 23 percent, while their triglycerides fell 15 percent.

Commentary: This seems to be another expensive diet drug with unknown long-term side-effects. In their own study, they showed a 20 pound weight loss over a year versus 5 pounds on the placebo. Only fifteen pounds difference? This is hardly the miracle diet pill we've all been looking for. Back to diet and exercise.

Update: Trial for European diet pill drug Acomplia Rimonanbant halted early after suicide. After a year, four people on the trial had killed themselves, versus one person in the placebo group.