Sanofi's obesity drug Acomplia works against diabetes

French drug major Sanofi-Aventis' obesity drug Acomplia (rimonabant) produced significant improvements in blood glucose control and weight, as well as other risk factors such as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, in patients with type 2 diabetes not currently on antidiabetics, according to data presented at the 19th world congress of the International Diabetes Federation, held in Cape Town, South Africa.

In the SERENADE study, treatment-naive type 2 diabetes patients on 20mg of rimonabant per day for six months significantly lowered their HbA1c levels 0.8% from a baseline of 7.9 versus a drop of 0.3% in the placebo group (p=0.002). In addition, patients with an HbA1c level greater than or equal to 8.5% at baseline, significantly reduced their HbA1c 1.9% with rimonabant vs 0.7% (p<0.0009).

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