Rimonabant: Not All That

Rimonabant is a new weight loss drug that has not yet even made it to the market, but it's already made its way into plot lines of TV shows and punch lines of late night comics.

I'm Dr. Caroline Cederquist, giving you The Skinny on Your Health.

And here we go again. Whenever a new medication comes out to help with weight loss, the true hope tends to get lost in the hype.

The hope of rimonabant is that it seems to suppress appetite in a new way while also aiding smoking cessation, tying together two of the thorniest lifestyle habits people want to change.

But in early studies, it hasn't been any more miraculous than anything before. Of a couple thousand women whose average weight was 220 pounds, their average weight loss on rimonabant was 14 pounds.

Now, mice on rimonabant ate less and lost up to 20 percent of their body weight, so that's good news if you're a fat mouse.

But if you're a person with a weight problem, don't wait for it. Keep trying to eat better, eat less, exercise more and see your doctor.