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03/16/2004: "Rimonabant"

Two reports on a new drug called rimonabant were released at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. The research was financed by the drug's developer, the French business Sanofi-Synthelabo, which plans to seek U.S. approval to sell it after more studies are finished next year. Click more.. below.

Doctors say the drug is the first of a class of medicines that block the brain's so-called endocannabinoid system.

Marijuana makes people ravenous by stimulating this circuitry. The same biological machinery serves everyday purposes by helping the brain regulate hunger and probably other urges, including alcohol craving.

Overeating and smoking can overstimulate this system, causing still more eating and smoking. By temporarily blocking the body's ability to receive these signals, experts believe they can make the system work normally again.

"Temporarily blocking" is a key phrase here; remember when your mother used to ask, "What if your face froze that way?" I don't know about you, but this whole concept makes me twitch. I have a relative who apears never to have had his endocannabinoid system hooked up, and I'm sure there are others out there just like him. I can tell you, it ain't pretty.

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