Cat (CT) scans of obese patients treated with Acomplia (rimonabant) have confirmed for the first time that the diet drug significantly reduces the dangerous type of abdominal obesity that often leads to type 2 diabetes, according to researchers.

In a late-breaking report presented at the annual meeting of the European Atherosclerosis Society in Istanbul, the researchers said cat scans showed that rimonabant treatment for a year resulted in significantly greater reductions in visceral fat than a placebo and also helped reduce the fatty liver index.

The results came from the ADAGIO-LIPIDS clinical trial, a study conducted in 799 patients with abdominal obesity and with the high triglyceride - low HDL-cholesterol dyslipidemia. Dyslipidemia is a condition that contributes to the development of atherosclerosis (commonly called hardening of the arteries).

The purpose of the study, according to lead researcher Dr Jean-Pierre Després of Université Laval in Quebec City, was to determine the effect of rimonabant on HDL (good) cholesterol and triglyceride levels and on the cardiometabolic profile of overweight/obese patients with dyslipidemia.

Patients treated for a year with rimonabant, Després reported, saw their HDL cholesterol increased by an average 9.7% while triglycerides were lowered 15.5%. Blood pressure was reduced 3.3 mm Hg, and inflammation levels measured by C-reactive protein (CRP) were also reduced.

But for the first time in a rimonabant trial, patients were also given cat scans to measure how much subcutaneous and visceral fat was lost on rimonabant as well as to determine whether rimonabant could reduce liver fat.

"Although we had evidence from the phase III studies conducted with rimonabant that (the drug) could induce a reduction in waist circumference (a crude marker of abdominal fat) and improve several features of the metabolic syndrome, no study had ever quantified the effect of this drug on visceral adiposity and liver fat," Després said.

The researchers reported that rimonabant therapy for a year reduced visceral adipose tissue by an average 10.1%, which was greater than the 5.1 percent loss of subcutaneous fat, and produced a "significant: decrease in the fatty liver index.

"Results of ADAGIO-LIPIDS provide support to the notion that patients with visceral obesity who are often either dyslipidemic or with type 2 diabetes (or both) represent a relevant subpopulation of overweight/obese patients who would particularly benefit from rimonabant therapy," the researchers concluded.