Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center today announced that they have launched a study to determine whether an experimental drug, rimonabant, can slow atherosclerosis, the fatty build-up in arteries that creates heart attack risk. In recent studies, rimonabant has been shown to decrease body weight, improve abnormal levels of blood sugars and fats (cholesterol) and to help willing patients quit smoking. Now researchers hope to add coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerosis within the arteries of the heart, to the list of maladies addressed. A decision on whether rimonabant is safe and effective and if so, for which uses, is expected from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2006.
