If you happen to read a newspaper, listen to the radio or watch television, you probably already know about a new wonder drug. In fact, the drug - rimonabant, and marketed in the USA as Acomplia - is the ultimate magic bullet.
People will no longer have to exercise self-restraint or act responsibly - the drug does it for you. It works by 'switching off' the addictive part of the brain, so it could be used to stop all sorts of bad habits, such as excessive drinking, cigarette smoking or overeating.
Its results were impressive. A study of 3,000 patients in the United States and Canada who took rimonabant found that most lost weight and kept it off for two years. Sixty percent of patients given a larger dose of rimonabant lost more than 5 percent of their body weight, while a third lost more than 10 percent. That amounts to a weight loss of 19 pounds, compared to 5.1 pounds in the placebo group. Also, the study showed that rimonabant shrank patients' waistlines. Those on the high dose (20 milligrams) lost 3 inches around their waists, compared with 1.9 inches for those on the low dose (5 milligrams) and 1.5 inches for those on a placebo.
But here's the rub. Those who stopped taking the drug in the second year put back on all the weight they had lost. So keep taking the medicine. As we said, the ultimate drug.