Rimonabant’s Risky Business

You know a weight loss drug doesn’t stand a chance when even morbidly obese patients are afraid to take it.

During the highly anticipated review of Sanofi-Aventis’ rimonabant by FDA’s Endocrine and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee yesterday, Lynn McAfee, the director of medical advocacy at the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination, told committee members that rimonabant was far too dangerous a drug to be allowed on the US market.

“This is a very scary drug,” she told the committee. “I lived through Redux and fen-phen and the calls in the middle of the night from dying people. Nobody wants to live through that again.”

Yikes. That’s a pretty damning statement from a group of people who are so desperate for weight-loss options that they spend nearly a $1 billion a year on dietary supplements—products that never cross the desk of an FDA medical reviewer.

But let’s be serious. As the IN VIVO Blog made clear in an earlier post, when a drug is linked not only to depression and suicidiality, but also a litany of neurological adverse events like seizures and multiple sclerosis, you don’t exactly have a slam-dunk on your hands. And did I mention the 50% chance of losing just 5% of your body weight?

So it should have come as no surprise that the advisory committee voted unanimously against approval. Frankly, the only folks that might have expected a different outcome were from Sanofi-Aventis—a company not exactly known for its sophisticated dealings with FDA. It’s common for a drug sponsor to become so invested in a drug that they can’t see the forest through the trees. But on rimonabant, Sanofi is in a totally different place—like la-la land.

That said, as far as advisory committee management is concerned, Sanofi did a surprisingly good job at trying to convince members that rimonabant deserved their seal of approval. Executives stressed no fewer than a half-dozen times that rimonabant was not for everyone, and totally inappropriate for those that have had or currently have psychiatric problems. And they proposed a pretty decent risk management program, including a controlled launch while they worked out the kinks.

But in the end, there’s only so much you can do with a risky drug. And rimonabant, unfortunately for all those obese patients out there, is a really risky drug.