Drug can reduce bodyweight and cardiovascular risk factors in ob...( A new drug could substantially reduce t...),Health

More than 50% of Europeans are currently classified as overweight and up to 20% clinically obese. Yearly, around a quarter of a million deaths in Europe and more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide are weight-related, with cardiovascular disease as the leading cause.

Luc Van Gaal (University Hospital Antwerp, Belgium) and colleagues undertook a trial (RIO-Europe) involving 1507 people from Europe and the USA. Participants had a body mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m or greater, or a BMI greater than 27 kg/m with abnormal blood fat levels, high blood pressure, or both. They were randomly assigned 5mg or 20mg of a drug called rimonabant, or a placebo once daily in addition to a calorie controlled diet. The treatment groups had similar characteristics. 920 patients (61%) completed the one-year follow-up; 379 in the rimonabant 5mg group, 363 in the rimonabant 20mg group and 178 in the placebo group.

Weight loss at 1 year was greater in patients treated with 5mg or 20mg of rimonabant compared with placebo. More than 67% of patients who completed treatment with 20mg of rimonabant achieved 5% or more weight loss, and 39% achieved 10 % or more weight loss. Patients on 20mg of rimonabant had greater improvements than placebo in waist circumference (average reduction of 4cm), and cardiovascular risk factors including cholesterol, insulin resistance and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The pattern of weight loss seen with rimonabant was sustained for around 36-40 weeks. The most common side effects leading to study discontinuation were depressed mood disorders in all treatment groups; withdrawls due to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, dizziness, and anxiety were more frequent in the rimonabant 20mg group than in other groups. Serious advers
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Contact: Joe Santangelo
j.santangelo@elsevier.com
1-212-633-3810
Lancet
14-Apr-2005