A trial conducted on lab mice showed that vigabatrin, a drug currently tested against cocaine and methamphetamine addiction across the US, lead to rapid weight loss and reduced appetite, a new study published in the online August 20, 2008 by the journal Synapse.

The study was carried by scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and showed that genetically obese rats lost up to 19 percent of their body weight, while non-obese rats lost 12 to 20 percent of their body weight.

“Our results appear to demonstrate that vigabatrin induced satiety in these animals. The fact that these results occurred in genetically obese animals offers hope that this drug could potentially treat severe obesity,” Stephen Dewey, who has conducted more than 20 years of preclinical research with this medication, said.

How exactly does the drug work? Well, the researchers said that vigabatrin prevents the breakdown of an important brain-messenger chemical called GABA, causing GABA levels to rise throughout the brain. The chemical seems to significantly reduce drug craving, an effect that is similar when it comes to food as well.

If the drug proves to have the same effect in humans, it could be seen as a breakthrough with the US facing a great increase in obesity rates. A report released this week by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation revealed obesity rates rose in 37 states in 2007 while no state showed any decline in this sense. There were many states having an obesity rate higher than 25 percent, whereas in 1991, no state had an obesity rate of more than 20 percent.

Vigabatrin is currently sold as Sabril in Canada and Mexico by Deerfield, Illinois-based Ovation Pharmaceuticals Inc and in Britian by Sanofi Aventis. It has not been approved in the US yet because the it can damage the retina leading to vision problems.