Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Sanofi’s Rimonabant does it all –almost:

[Rimonabant was featured in the recent Business 2.0 article on obesity (#msg-2460720). But the write-up below goes a step further and makes Rimonabant sound like the holy grail. It helps you lose weight *and* quit smoking, while simultaneously raising the “good” HDL cholesterol to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease still further. (However, it doesn’t improve platelet aggregation –for that you need Plavix ]

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040309/health_sanofi_obesity_5.html

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Sanofi drug shows promise for obesity, smokers

By Ransdell Pierson

NEW ORLEANS, March 9 (Reuters) - A new drug from French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo (Paris:SASY.PA - News) helps people to lose weight and also to stop smoking without putting on extra pounds, researchers said on Tuesday.

The French drugmaker, which is battling for control of larger rival Aventis (Paris:AVEP.PA - News), highlighted its new drug rimonabant, or Acomplia, by presenting the early results of two Phase III studies at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans.

"It looks like a terrific drug because for the first time we have something that can simultaneously help you give up smoking, lower cardiovascular risks and fight obesity," said Dr. Elbert Glover, a professor and smoking-cessation researcher at the West Virginia School of Medicine.

Obese patients treated for one year on the highest dose of 20 mg per day shed an average of 20 pounds and lost 3.4 inches of waistline, researchers showed, and nearly three-quarters lost more than five percent of their body weight.

At the same time, there was an average 23 percent increase in levels of "good" HDL cholesterol in their blood and a positive shift in the particle size of "bad" LDL cholesterol.

Some 15 percent of patients on the 20 mg dose dropped out of the study due to side effects [oops], but Sanofi said the problems -- mainly nausea and dizziness -- were mild and transient.

A second study on smoking cessation found that smokers who had previously tried unsuccessfully to quit were twice as likely to stop after taking the 20 milligram dose of rimonabant for 10 weeks.

And they quit without putting on weight, whereas those taking placebos gained 2.5 pounds.

Dr. Robert Anthenelli, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati who led the trial, said drugs like GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (NYSE:GSK - News) Zyban and smoking-cessation skin patches typically can more than double the odds of quitting smoking.

"But rimonabant has the advantage of curbing weight gain, while patients taking existing treatments tend to gain about 6 to 10 pounds over one or two years," Anthenelli said.

He noted his trial lasted less than three months, so other studies will be needed to see how well the Sanofi drug works, and if the pounds can still be kept off, over longer periods.

About 7 percent of patients in the smoker trial taking the Sanofi drug dropped out due to side effects, including nausea, almost twice as many as those taking placebo.

"For years I've joked that if anybody comes up with a drug that manages to help you stop smoking, but not gain weight, it will be a winner. And I think this one is," said Glover, who helped conduct obesity and smoker trials of rimonabant. He did not present the results and has no financial ties to Sanofi.

Rimonabant, which some industry analysts believe could be a $1 billion-a-year seller, provided its side effects are deemed acceptable by patients and doctors, is a key product for Sanofi.

The Paris-based company is anxious to demonstrate that its stock-and-cash offer for Aventis, currently worth $57.66 billion, is underpinned by future blockbusters.

Rimonabant's novel mode of action targets the same biological "switch" in the brain that makes people hungry when they smoke cannabis. The drug binds to and blocks a so-called cannabinoid receptor protein found on the surface of brain cells.
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