Is Rosiglitazone the next drug to be fashionable in glucose intolerant subjects?
AA Bavry and colleagues randomised such patients to ramipril (an ACE inhibitor, the current favourite drug in this situation) and to rosiglitazone, a glucose lowering agent. They claim that only the latter reduced the amount of disease visualised in the carotid arteries of the neck. However, survival was not affected by either drug (contrary to previous experience suggesting a preventative effect with ramipril). Withdrawal of Rimonabant This drug blocks cannabis receptors, reduces weight and has been thought to be beneficial in diabetes. Unwanted side effects have caused its withdrawal. In the meantime Dr. Francoise Bono of Sanofi-Aventis Research & Developement in Toulouse, France, and colleagues administered rimonabant, 50 mg/kg/d, to mice fed one of four diets: a standard diet (3% fat, no cholesterol), an ad libitum Western diet (0.21% cholesterol, 20% fat), a Western diet containing rimonabant (0.45 g/kg of food), and a Western diet with food restricted to the mean amount consumed
