EXPERTS SAY VERSATILE PILL MAY ALSO FIGHT DRUG ABUSE

NEW YORK - A pill that helps you lose weight and quit smoking? That
was amazing enough to capture headlines last week. But scientists say
the experimental drug might be even more versatile, providing a new
tool to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, too.

It's called rimonabant, or Acomplia, and last week researchers
reported it could help people not only lose weight but keep it off for
two years.

That burnished the drug's reputation after two studies in March, which
suggested it could fight both obesity and smoking, two of humanity's
biggest killers.

The French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis plans to seek U.S.
federal approval for rimonabant next year.

But the drug's benefits may go beyond just smokers and obese people,
researchers say.

"I think it's going to have a big impact on the treatment of
addiction," said Dr. Charles O'Brien, an addiction expert at the
University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs
Medical Center.

Animal studies suggest rimonabant can block the effects of marijuana
and fight relapse in alcohol and cocaine abuse, he said. Once it is
approved for treating obesity or smoking, "we'll be free to study it
in these other areas and I'll try to get my hands on it as quickly as
possible," O'Brien said.