It is reported that those who are on 5mg - the lowest dose - lost an average of 2.6kg, and those on the highest dose of 100mg lost an average of 5kg, after 16 days. Two patients were forced to withdraw due to nausea and vomiting on the higher dose.

Vernalis— which had started a Phase I trial of V24343 in Dec, 2006— set off news by its announcement that the company might have to cut jobs if its Frova migraine drug is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at the end of the month for the treatment of menstrual migraine.

The anti-obesity drug, V24343, acts by targeting the CB1 receptor in the brain and suppressing a person's appetite. Cannabis targets the same receptor in the opposite way, thus creating the so-called "munchies". The efficacy of the treatment was tested on 34 patients with four different doses.

The drug is in the same class as Sanofi Aventis's Acomplia, which was unanimously rejected by an advisory committee of the FDA due to side-effects that included suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Sanofi has withdrawn its application.

Navid Malik, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said: "For anything you see in the market in this space, investors should be focusing on safety and not on weight loss."

Simon Sturge, chief executive of Vernalis, said rimonabant, the generic name for Acomplia, did not show a big enough difference between its side-effect profile and its efficacy.

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