And 8 Canadian institutions enlisted more than 3,000 obese volunteers, mostly women, who agreed to take a daily pill while attempting to diet for 2 years. Those who took Acomplia during the first year were redivided to either continue on it or get fake pills Acomplia diet drug for the second year. Regardless of which pills they were given, nearly half the volunteers dropped out of the study–a common problem in weightloss trials–and were excluded from most statistical analyses. Douglas Greene, Sanofi’s vice acomplia diet drug president of regulatory affairs. F-Xavier Pi- Sunyer of Columbia University in New York, who led the research and presented results at the American Heart Association conference. Prescription meds are designed for people with health complications due to weight or a BMI of 30 or higher. Food and Drug Administration panel in June after it was told of the psychiatric side effects. You don’t cure obesity, you acomplia diet drug just improve it, Pi-Sunyer said. For example, 63 percent of volunteers getting 20 mg/day for 2 years weighed at least 5 percent less at the end of the study than they had at its outset. Acomplia diet drug we are not just fighting obesity, but the things that come along with it, Jebb said. A lower-dose version of Xenical called acomplia diet drug alli is sold over the counter in the U. , and its maker, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, is seeking approval for sales in Europe. Doctors called the research exciting and the company, acomplia diet drug which funded the study, thinks the drug could have blockbuster potential similar to cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. There was no evidence this drug over two years had something we had to worry about in the way of safety, Pi-Sunyer acomplia diet drug said. The impressive results from a study of more than 3,000 obese people were presented at a medical conference Tuesday, capping months of anticipation about the new drug, Acomplia, made by the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis. It’s been devilishly difficult to develop effective treatments for either problem. New data indicate that obese adults who lose weight during a year of taking rimonabant and dieting keep the weight off during the following year, if they continue the regimen. The study participants — men acomplia diet drug and women between 45 and 50 years old who weighed about 220 pounds and had a body mass index of about 35 — used the drugs for periods of between one and four years. Up to 20 percent had side effects including raised blood pressure and pulse rates, insomnia and nausea. Padwal said the biggest caveat about the drugs is Acomplia diet drug that their long- term effects are unknown.