Acomplia gains positive CHMP opinion

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis says that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human use has advised that its drug Acomplia (rimonabant) be granted marketing authorization. The CHMP's recommendation covers the product's use as an adjunct to diet and exercise in the treatment for obese or overweight patients, with associated risk factors.

The product selectively blocks the brain's CB1 receptors, which are thought to be important in glucose metabolism and have been linked to the regulation of body weight. Studies of the drug showed that it caused a significant reduction in weight and waist circumference. in addition to stimulating improvement in HBA1c, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Lead study investigator Luc Van Gaal, professor of metabolism as the Antewerp University Hospital, Belgium, said that the drug offered a new approach to managing cardiometabolic risk factors, but added that the product should only be used when there is a medical need. The firm anticipates launching the drug in the second half of 2006.