New information on Acomplia has come to light that may explain why the FDA committee was reluctant to recommend it for approval in the USA. Acomplia underwent a two year study which resulted in patients losing 10% of their body weight after 12 months of treatment. Those patients who continued with Acomplia for a further 12 months managed to maintain the weight loss that they had achieved but another group, which was switched to a placebo, quickly regained the weight that they had lost. If Acomplia requires to be taken for longer than two years, there simply is not enough safety data to determine whether or not this is advisable. At the moment Acomplia is only licensed by the European Medicines Agency for use up to a maximum of two years.
This latest development seems to contradict previous findings which suggested that Acomplia could help obese patients keep the weight off even after they had ceased treatment. There are other medications in the same class as Acomplia. i.e. CB1 receptor antagonists and we await the results of clinical trials to see if these are more or less effective than Acomplia.
Having said all this, we have quite a high number of patients who have used Acomplia and it has worked better for them than anything else that they have tried, especially in getting rid of the weight carried around the middle. The key to keeping the weight off long term is to maintain the healthy lifestyle adopted while on the medication.