CB1's Peripheral Vision

In 2007 an FDA panel recommended against approval of sanofi-aventis Group's Accomplia rimonabant for obesity. Neurological safety concerns arose due to increased levels of seizures and suicidality in patients taking the cannabinoid CB₁ receptor antagonist.¹ Now, U.S. and European researchers have found that restricting CB₁ receptor antagonists to non-CNS tissue could avoid such side effects.²

Cannabinoid CB₁ receptors occur in higher numbers in the CNS than in peripheral tissues.³ As noted by several FDA panelists at the time, CB₁ receptor antagonists that do not cross the blood-brain barrier may be a solution to their undesirable side effects...