Diet drug misses mark in diabetes study

The Sanofi-Aventis SA weight loss drug rimonabant failed to slow heart disease by a key measure in obese patients with fat around the middle, and it significantly increased the risk of anxiety and depression, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said more than 40 percent of patients who took the drug, sold as Acomplia in Europe, developed psychiatric problems.

However, patients who got the drug did show signs of improvement in a secondary measurement of coronary artery disease, suggesting the drug should be studied further, according to the study, which was presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago.

The drug, known generically as rimonabant, is not approved for sale in the United States after a U.S. expert panel last year recommended against its approval because of concerns over psychiatric risks.

While the drug helped reduce abdominal fat and improved blood work, it failed to meet the study’s main goal of reducing the Percent Atheroma Volume—a measure of plaque in a cross-section of the arteries. It did, however, reduce the Total Atheroma Volume—a measurement of the total amount of plaque in the coronary artery.