Surinabant

Surinabant (SR147778) is a cannabinoid receptor type 1 antagonist developed by Sanofi-Aventis. It is being investigated as a potential treatment for nicotine addiction, to assist smoking cessation. It may also be developed as an anorectic drug to assist with weight loss, however there are already several CB₁ antagonists or inverse agonists on the market or under development for this application, so surinabant is at present mainly being developed as an anti-smoking drug, with possible application in the treatment of other addictive disorders such as alcoholism. Other potential applications such as treatment of ADHD have also been proposed.

A dose ranging study was done for smoking cessation in 2012; it did not improve success rate, but reduced weight gain. Inhibition of THC effects on heart rate was seen at 20 mg and 60 mg but not 5 mg.