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New Drug Helps Weight loss and Blood Sugar December 05, 2006 The new drug in the market by the name of rimonabant, helps promote weight loss and improve blood sugar control in individuals with type 2 diabetes. The maker of rimonabant( brand name Acomplia) is Sanofi-Aventis. The study of 278 patients at 56 centers in the United States and six other countries found that the drug also had an effect on other risk factors such as levels of good and bad cholesterol, blood pressure and triglycerides. The patients in this study, called SERENADE (Study Evaluating Rimonabant Efficacy in Drug-Naive Diabetic Patients), were not taking any other medications for their diabetes. The findings were presented at the World Diabetes Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. "The management of type 2 diabetes should not only focus on controlling blood sugar levels but also improve other risk factors such as weight, good and bad cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure," Dr. Julio Rosenstock, director of the Dallas Diabetes and Endocrine Center at Medical City and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, said in a prepared statement. "This study suggests that rimonabant can achieve improvement in blood glucose with the added benefit of significant weight loss and improvement in other risk factors," said Rosenstock, who was an investigator in the SERENADE study. "Some current medications for type 2 diabetes are often associated with weight gain. The fact that blood sugar levels were reduced along with weight loss and improvements in HDL ("good") cholesterol and triglycerides may further support the novel mechanism of action of rimonabant, which is different from the mode of action of current oral anti-diabetic medications," Rosenstock said. A second study has been conducted to find out if Acomplia improves the blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. An earlier study which was funded by Sanofi - Aventis, has been published online Oct. 27 in the journal The Lancet. Rmonabant has not yet been approved in the United States but has
been approved in Europe.
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