Can Rimonabant Keep the Weight Off?
(ORLANDO)—Rimonabant has been shown to help overweight and obese slim their waistlines and improve their lipid and cardiovascular risk profiles. But can the selective canabinoid receptor blocker (CB1) keep the weight off? The two-year results from RIO-Europe should give the answer. Last year, one-year results showed that rimonabant 20mg/day resulted in a significant decrease in body weight and waist circumference (WC), a marker of cardiovascularly dangerous visceral fat, as well as improvements in HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in overweight/obese patients. The current trial is attempting to show whether extending administration of rimonabant for two years maintains these important improvements. “There is weight loss and there is weight maintenance,” said Luc Van Gaal, M.D., Antwerp University, Antwerp, Belgium. “Maintenance is a more important issue, because many patients can follow a weight loss regimen for six months or a year. But keeping th
