A person is said to be obese when their body mass index is greater than 30. A drug under the brand name Acomplia was introduced to help these people reduce weight.The drug being a Cannabinoid receptor antagonist prevents the binding of the endogenous cannabinoid to the neuronal CB1 receptors in the body . As this binding is essential to stimulate appetite the drug successfully reduces the appetite of the person. Due to the less appetite the person tends to consume less food which leads to loss of weight.
Obese person must constantly exercise and must reduce their consumption of fatty food while taking the drug. This regimen is continued even after discontinuing the medication to prevent gain in weight. Rimonabant Acomplia was introduced by the company Sanofi-Aventis and is available in most part of the world. Even though Rimonabant Acomplia was introduced as Zimulti in the united states it was not approved by the FDA. The drug which was available from 2006 in European countries faced rejection in 2008 when EMEA withdrew its support to the drug. The committee went further and even recommended the removal of the drug from the market. These statements were issued when the committee came upon the statistics of increase in numbers of patients developing psychiatric problems after consumption of the drug. The committee decided to revoke its approval as it felt the risks involved in using the drug was serious. It was for the same reason the approval of the drug in US was denied.
Certain reports even stated that patient developed suicidal tendencies after the intake of the drug. Sanofi-Aventis was dragged into controversy soon after the introduction of the Rimonabant Acomplia. Even before the announcement of these official statements, several reports were published in the paper claiming that the drug was responsible for causing the mental disorders found in patients.
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