A six-month study named SERENADE (Study Evaluating Rimonabant Efficacy in Drug Naive Diabetic Patients) announced its findings at the World Diabetes Congress in Cape Town. The study involved 278 patients with type 2 diabetes who were not taking any diabetic drugs.
Its major finding is : Acomplia (rimonabant) can significantly improve blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes while also helping them reduce their weight.During the study, blood sugar levels of nearly half of the patients treated on Acomplia fell significantly-to below 7 percent -- and the patients on Acomplia lost around 15 pounds of weight when compared to 6 pounds of those on placebo.
'It is extraordinary that in this last group -- about 25 percent of the participants -- rimonabant was as efficient as several of the best anti-diabetic treatments,' said Marc Cluzel, Head of International Development Scientific and Medical Affairs for Sanofi-Aventis.
About 9.4 percent on Acomplia left the trial midway due to adverse effects like dizziness, nausea, anxiety, depressed mood and headache compared to 2.1 percent on placebo.
Acomplia has already been approved as a diet pill in the European Union, Mexico and Argentina, but its release in the market has been withheld for months for reasons never disclosed by Sanofi-Aventis.
Source-Medindia
PRI
