Acomplia weight loss drug, a new drug that works by affecting the body's cannabinoid system, appears to also help people with type 2 diabetes loose pounds, reduce waist size, and even control blood sugar and blood fats, researchers say.

"This is an interesting new class of drugs that probably offers something new and different to people with diabetes," said Dr. Larry Deeb, president of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. He was not involved in the research.

In the study, Andre Scheen, from the University of Liege, Belgium, and colleagues looked at the effects of rimonabant (brand name Acomplia) in over 1,000 patients with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. All the patients were obese or overweight and had failed treatment with other drugs.

The patients were given a low-calorie diet plan and advised to be more physically active. They were also given rimonabant at a dose of either 5 milligrams or 20 milligrams per day, or a placebo.

After a year, Scheen's team found that patients taking Acomplia lost significantly more weight than those taking the placebo. Patients on the placebo lost an average of 1.4 kilograms, compared with 2.3 kilograms for those given 5 milligrams per day and 5.3 kilograms in patients taking 20 milligrams per day. (For conversion, one kilogram is equal to just over 2 pounds.)

Additionally, patients taking Acomplia had greater improvement in their waist size, blood sugar control, cholesterol, and better appetite control, compared with patients receiving placebo. The benefits seen were in addition to the benefits of standard, ongoing treatment with Glucophage or the family of diabetes drugs called sulfonylureas.

"These findings support the use of 20mg per day of rimonabant, in addition to diet and exercise, as a new approach to reduce body weight and improve blood glucose control as well as several other cardiovascular risk factors in overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes that was inadequately controlled by standard treatment," the researchers concluded.

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