Health

Pill helps people stop smoking, drop weight

NEW ORLEANS - A new pill in the final stages of testing shows promise in attacking two of humanity's biggest killers by helping people quit smoking and lose weight at the same time.

As government officials in Washington launched a campaign against obesity Tuesday, doctors at a medical conference in New Orleans described the new drug as provocative and perhaps ideal for some people.

The drug, which could be available in a year or two, works by an entirely new approach - by blocking the same primeval circuitry in the brain that gives pot smokers the munchies.

The development could offer a well timed one-two punch against Americans' gravest health concerns. Smoking is the country's top killer and is rapidly being overtaken by obesity and inactivity. The two problems combined kill more than 800,000 Americans a year. A similar pattern is occurring worldwide.

Two reports on the drug, called rimonabant, were released at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. The research was financed by the drug's developer, the French firm Sanofi-Synthelabo, which plans to seek U.S. approval to sell it under the brand Acomplia after more studies are finished next year.

One study found the drug helped people drop 20 pounds in a year, while the other concluded it doubles smokers' success at quitting, at least in the short run. Doctors said the drug is likely to be marketed for dieting and smoking cessation, but it is likely to be especially appealing to people beset by both problems.

Marijuana makes people ravenous by stimulating this circuitry. The same biological machinery serves crucial everyday purposes by helping the brain regulate hunger and probably other urges, including alcohol craving.

Overeating and smoking can overstimulate this system, which in turn propels them to eat and smoke more. By temporarily blocking the body's ability to receive these signals, experts believe they can return the system's working to normal.

In the larger of the two studies, Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Laval University in Quebec City enrolled 1,036 overweight volunteers, all with an especially high risk of heart problems. They were urged to cut 600 calories a day and randomly given rimonabant or dummy pills.

After a year, those who got the higher of two doses of rimonabant had lost an average of 20 pounds and trimmed 3 inches from their waistlines. Nearly half took off 10 percent of their body weight. By comparison, those on placebos lost just 5 pounds.

Those getting rimonabant improved in other ways, too. Their levels of HDL, the protective good cholesterol, rose 23 percent, while their triglycerides fell 15 percent.

Despres said people taking the drug simply felt less hungry.

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