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 Rimonabant Acomplia, and its being developed by the French firm Sanofi-Synthelabo.

Summary:

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 Rimonabant 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 Rimonabant 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.
Rimonabant 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.

Here’s another article that promotes the hype and mythology of Acomplia, an upcoming weight loss drug that still remains entirely unproven. Amazingly, even the fitness industry seems concerned about Acomplia now. But it’s ridiculous: no pill can make a person look fit. Nor can it actually improve a person’s cardiovascular health. There’s no replacement for physical exercise, but of course, Americans will probably buy into Acomplia anyway, because even the promise of weight loss without effort is good enough to cause an explosion in sales.
A much better approach to losing weight with the help of drugs is probably the upcoming PYY nasal spray product from Nastech / Merck. This uses a natural hormone (PYY) that you inhale to make you feel full more quickly.

Summary:

One of the big health stories of 2004 was development of Acomplia, also known as Rimonabant, a diet drug which shows real promise for sustained weight loss.
In early clinical trials, Acomplia is looking promising.
But with only 3,000+ people tested so far, it has a way to go before being approved by the FDA.
With the raging obesity problem, more and more people are seeking ways to lose weight without the pain and drudgery of dieting or working out.
The fitness industry frowns upon the notion of popping a pill to lose weight after all the battle cry is “The pain is the gain”.
Yet the idea of a diet pill is seductive.
It’s something that doesn’t require any exertion whatsoever, and that makes it a perfect fit for many Americans, who seem increasingly unwilling to actually take any action in order to achieve lasting results.
What they want is a magic weight loss pill.
And so far, Acomplia looks like the closest solution.
The drug’s manufacturer, Sanofi-Aventis, an international pharmaceutical, headquartered in Paris, plans to apply for FDA approval in 2005.
A decision by the agency will then take up to 10 months.
Diet pills have been around for decades offering different attempts at suppressing appetite or speeding up the metabolism.
But Acomplia offers a new technology known as a cannabinoid type I (CB1) blocker, it’s the first of an entirely new class of drugs, which works by blocking a pleasure center in the brain.
From the standpoint of researchers, the drug is clearly a breakthrough.
Will the entire fitness industry be challenged one day by the discovery of a magic diet pill?