Sanofi Aventis is discontinuing all of its clinical research

The news that the drug manufacturer Sanofi Aventis is discontinuing all of its clinical research and development programs for its weight loss medication Acomplia has come as a shock to thousands of people who used it successfully over the last couple of years.

A fortnight ago the European Medicines Agency asked Sanofi Aventis to discontinue marketing the drug but it was not completely banned. At the time Sanofi Aventis said that they would continue researching the drug so that they could show new clinical evidence highlighting the positive benefit versus risk profile that the Acomplia drug had in treating men and women suffering from obesity.

Sanofi Aventis said that the feasibility of Acomplia’s global clinical development program “had been compromised” after the statements released by a number of national medical authorities and thus it was now unable to continue research on the once very promising weight loss remedy.

At Ukmedix sales of the Acomplia medication were immediately stopped following the EMEA recommendation and following the announcement from Sanofi-Aventis it means that the drug will now be completely unavailable all over the UK. The drug company Merck who were also working on a similar type of cannabinoid receptor drug called taranabant has also stopped research and development on it. The clinical name for the Acomplia weight loss drug is rimonabant.

Cannabinoid receptor drugs a few years ago were hailed as the future of treatment for compulsive disorders such as overeating, smoking and alcoholism. However following the bad press that their side effects generated it is likely that funding for this type of research will dry up.

Anyone who has been using the Acomplia weight loss medication should speak to their doctor about alternative treatments such as Reductil or Xenical which have been on the weight loss drugs market for a long time and have a very good safety profile.