DRUG THAT CURBS BAD HABITS MAY HELP STOP DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE

NEW YORK -- Scientists say an experimental drug that may help people lose
weight and stop smoking might be even more versatile, providing a new tool
to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, too.

It's called rimonabant, or Acomplia. Researchers reported earlier this
month 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 North America'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.

Rimonabant's versatility traces back to its effects on the brain's reward
system, circuitry that tells you to keep on doing something. Basically, it
appears to help break the connection between an activity such as smoking
and the rewarding feeling it causes in the brain.