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COPYRIGHT 2004 International Medical News Group
NEW ORLEANS -- A single drug helped patients lose weight, quit smoking, cut inches from their waistline, and corrected their metabolic syndrome. And it had a fairly benign adverse effect profile.
It might sound too good to be true, but these were the remarkable results from the first two phase III clinical trials of rimonabant, the first agent tested from a new drug class, the selective endocannabinoid blockers.
Results from the two studies, which involved a combined total of about 1,800 patients, were reported at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
"It's one of the most promising new drugs that I've seen in a decade," said Dr. Christopher P. Cannon, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Although each of rimonabant's actions is attractive, perhaps the feature that sparked the most interest was the drug's ability to reverse metabolic syndrome in about half the patients who had this major cardiovascular risk factor. Rimonabant accomplished this by boosting serum...
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