Is rimonabant a safe and effective therapy for sustained weight loss and improved cardiometabolic risk factors?
Serena Tonstad
Correspondence University of Oslo, Department of Preventive Cardiology, Ullevål University Hospital, N-0407 Oslo, Norway
Email serena.tonstad@uus.no
This article has no abstract so we have provided the first paragraph of the full text.
Systematic reviews estimate that obese individuals who undergo lifestyle intervention generally lose less than 5 kg in body weight after 2–4 years. Patients receiving antiobesity drugs generally lose 5–10 kg or less; estimated as 2.9% of body weight in orlistat-treated and 4.6% in sibutramine-treated patients.1, 2, 3 Given the high dropout rate in obesity studies, however, these estimates are generous. Several features of the RIO-North America trial suggest that rimonabant might be a useful option in obesity treatment. Firstly, no upper BMI limit was specified in the eligibility criteria, and BMIs seemed typical of obese individuals who seek treatment and were evenly distributed among 30–35 kg/m2, 35–40 kg/m2and >40 kg/m2 categories. Secondly, 20 mg rimonabant was well tolerated; only approximately 1 in 7 patients during the first year and 20 out of 333 patients during the second year withdrew because of adverse effects. Thirdly, weight reductions continued for about 9 months, compared with 6 months following therapy with orlistat or sibutramine.
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