Health Highlights: June 11, 2007

ByABC News
March 24, 2008, 12:13 AM

Mar. 23 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Weight-Loss Drug Linked to Suicidal Thoughts

U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulators said Monday that Sanofi-Aventis' weight-loss drug rimonabant may raise users' risk of suicidal thoughts.

The assessment was posted on the agency's Web site one step ahead of an advisory panel meeting Wednesday to weigh U.S. approval for the drug, which is also known as Acomplia or Zimulti.

The FDA has already postponed a decision on rimonabant three times, the Bloomberg news service reported.

The drug, already approved in Europe, is among a new class of medicines called CB1 antagonists, which block brain receptors that regulate hunger.

But the FDA documents posted Monday noted two suicides among clinical trial participants who tested the medicine, Bloomberg said. Other reported side effects included mood swings, anxiety and depression.

The advisory panel will help the agency decide whether there is a causal link between the drug and suicidal thoughts, and if the drug's benefits outweigh its potential risks.

Sanofi seeks the drug's approval to treat obesity and as a treatment for diabetes, Bloomberg said. The FDA's final word is due by July 27.

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Overall UV Exposure May Influence Skin Cancer Risk

Overall exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays in childhood, not just sunburns, may be a major factor influencing a person's risk for skin cancer later in life, suggest initial results of research looking at the interaction of genes and UV exposure in 214 people with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer.

Dr. Nancy Thomas, a dermatologist at the University of North Carolina, used satellite data to track average UV radiation in the towns and states where the patients lived at different times of their lives, the Associated Press reported.

She and her colleagues found that the patients who'd experienced the highest UV exposure by age 20 had the highest number of melanoma-related BRAF gene mutations. The same patients also had the most moles, another important risk factor for melanoma.