Originally published January 25 2005
Weight loss, anti-smoking drug Acomplia could be on the market by 2006
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
One-stop shopping fans take note: a new pill that claims to help people stop smoking and lose weight at the same time is in its final stages of testing. It could be on the market by 2006. The new drug is called Acomplia, and its being developed by the French firm Sanofi-Synthelabo.
A single pill has been found to stop both food and cigarette cravings enough to help people quit smoking and lose weight, and could also help curb other unhealthy urges.
Named Acomplia the drug in one study helped people who were overweight drop an average of 20 pounds and in another doubled the chances that smokers would quit.
Rimonabant (which will be brought to market as Acomplia) works by blocking the CB1 receptor, one of two receptors found in a newly described physiological system called the Endocannabinoid System (EC System), believed to play a critical role in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure.
Researchers wondered whether a drug that halted this action might curb appetite, and in 2001, the first animal study was conducted at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Md.
When the normal mice were given rimonabant, which blocked their CB1 receptors, the mice reduced their food intake.In 2002, Sanofi-Synthelabo began human testing.
Acomplia works by selectively targeting and blocking the CB1 receptors, helping normalize the over-activation of the EC system and making hunger or cigarette cravings more manageable.
This blocking of signals that control cravings appears to result in weight loss, improvement of cardiovascular/ metabolic risk factors in overweight/obese patients and appears to reduce tobacco dependence without post cessation weight gain in people who smoke.
Meridia (Reductil in Europe) was originally a drug meant to treat depressions and can have severe side-effects as well, like high blood pressure, sleeping problems (Insomnia), constipation and dry-mouth syndrome.
This causes a lot of strain on many of the body systems and phentermine should therefore not be used for longer periods and only in obesity cases and not for treating common overweight.
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