those given 6mg of the taranabant lost on average nearly 9lbs

There is a lot of hype in the press at present about a new weight loss drug which is similar and in the same class and category as the Acomplia drug. Taranabant which works on brain receptors in an almost identical way to the way that rimonabant [the active ingredient of Acomplia] works has been forwarded for clinical testing. Following a twelve week phase II study the results are looking promising.

The drug company Merck which conducted these FDA monitored phase II trials looked at over 500 obese people who were randomly given either 0.5mg, 2mg, 4 mg, 6 mg of taranabant or a placebo tablet. All the volunteers were also given advice and counselling about exercise and diet right the way through the trial.

It was clear that those participants who were given the placebo tablets lost the least weight and those who had been given the largest doses of the taranabant drug shed the most weight. Those volunteers who were given 0.5 mg of the drug shed on average 3.5lbs, those given 2mg shed on average 5lb and those given 6mg of the taranabant lost on average nearly 9lbs.

The results were definitely promising however it was noted that those people who took bigger doses of the taranabant drugs tended to have problems with the side effects which include nausea, vomiting and anxiety. There was also a high rate of volunteers dropping out of the study due to the side effects especially with those taking the high doses. There were no serious side effect events recorded.

The drug company Merck hopes that the side effects of taranabant will be considerably less than the side effects of rimonabant because this will give it a chance of getting approval from the Food & Drug Administration in America which has refused permission for the Acomplia weight loss drug to be sold until further testing is done on possible psychological side effects.

Acomplia is approved in the European Union by the EMEA, and Sanofi Aventis who make Acomplia say that it is selling well in the United Kingdom.