More and more people are turning to pharmaceutical solutions to help them battle chronic weight and obesity problems. While we would all like to be able to control our weight through diet and exercise, many in our society find that they just can’t do it without a helping hand. The pace of our lives means we have to grab whatever food is available to us when we have a free moment and to eat it as fast as we can. We don’t even take the time to stop and think about whether or not we are full. We just eat until it is gone.

We eat without conscience, and we are paying the price. Drug companies are beginning to move closer to an answer. A series of slimming pills have, and are being, developed which work to help your brain know when your body has had enough. These drugs work with the nervous system, turning on certain switches and blocking transmission to others. When the drugs block your body’s neuro- transmissions in the right sequence, they can control your appetite.

Though Acomplia has yet to gain approval from the FDA, it has already given birth to several competitors. Pharmaceutical giants Merck and Pfizer have both entered the marketplace with their own clinical trials of diet pills.

Acomplia, and the newcomers, are having a hard time finding FDA approval as a new kind of drug. They work by blocking receptors in the brain. Called a cannabinoid-1 (CB-1) receptor antagonist, the developers of these drugs are seeking ways to keep you from being hungry. Some block the body’s desire for fatty foods, while other’s block the body’s desire to overeat. In both cases, the drugs are working to combat one of the most destructive problems facing our society; people who use food as a drug.

When people talk about needing comfort food, it is a mental or emotional need that they are meeting. There is no thought to eating for nutritional value. People eat because of the way that it makes them feel. This is destructive behavior, and these weight loss pills work to beat back those cravings.

Merck is currently testing a drug called Taranabant. In extensive Phase II and Phase III clinical trials this drug has proven effective may have demonstrated fewer side effects than Acomplia. Likewise, Pfizer has been testing its own drug that blocks brain receptors. As yet un-named, this drug seems to be following closely in Taranabant’s footsteps of success.

As both drugs near the end of their trials and go before the Food and Drug Administration for approval, their developers are closely watching what is happening with Acomplia’s efforts to get FDA approval. Acomplia, made from the base drug rimonabant, is supposed to be marketed in the US under the name Zimulti. Both Merck and Pfizer are curious to see how well it fares in the eyes of FDA regulators. If Zimulti doesn’t pass, then the two giants may have the market cornered with their own products which might display fewer side effects.

Merck has not yet reported on Phase III of its trial, but interviews with participants leads analysts to believe the drug is being well received. This dramatic reduction in side effects from Acomplia/Zimulti could catapult Taranabant through the FDA process and make it the new household name in weight loss drugs. If this were to happen, it is likely that Pfizer’s product, which seems to be a little bit behind Merck’s in development, will be playing catch up. Initial reports say that both drugs could go before the FDA as soon as next year.

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