Sanofi Aventis that makes the new diet drug Acomplia has not had to wait very long before other drug companies have jumped on the bandwagon to produce weight loss drugs that also work on the CB-1 receptors that control cravings and appetite. Ukmedix has already reported on Pfizer’s attempt at a similar weight loss drug and now we hear that Merck, (the company that makes the hair loss drug Propecia) is also having a go at getting a share of the lucrative weight loss drug market.

The CB-1 receptor-blocking drug from Merck is now entering its Phase III trials and will consist of a drug that comes in a much lower dose than Sanofi’s Acomplia. The drug is still not officially named and is referred to as MK-0364 and has been tested in 2, 4 and 6 milligram doses in a double blind placebo controlled test. There are to be over five and a half thousand participants overall in all the testing. In this phase of the testing about 1000 volunteers will receive either a dose of 2 milligrams, 1 milligram 0.5 milligrams or the placebo pill.

Merck in a fashion typical of drug companies at this stage of testing is only releasing very basic information about the drug and the results and would not comment further on the drug but there is no reason to suspect that this drug could be anything but a good drug to help obese people lose weight in the same way as Acomplia has done before.

The side effects reported with the MK-0364 drug are reported to be similar to the side effects that are also reported with Acomplia namely nausea, depression and anxiety and this is probably because the drug works in the same way on the brain receptors.

Weight loss drugs are being heavily invested in at the moment as America faces a huge weight crisis and the UK is catching up too. Even countries that are traditionally lean like Africa are no beginning to see the effects of obesity too. In the next decade obesity drugs could become the most lucrative drug market sector to invest in.