U.S. government researchers revealed on Wednesday that Vigabatrin, a medication that holds potential as a treatment for drug addiction, can induce rapid weight loss in animals.

A study done by U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory found that animals bred to be obese lost up to 19 percent of their total weight while non-obese animals lost 12 percent to 20 percent after 40 days of injections of vigabatrin or GVG.

“When we gave GVG, they would steadily lose weight, and when we took them off GVG, they would steadily gain weight,” said Amy DeMarco, who worked on the study.

“It was like a roller coaster. It was also dose-dependent. Rats given higher doses would lose more weight.” She added that no side effects were observed in the rats.

Vigabatrin is currently in U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved Phase II clinical trials as a potential treatment to break cocaine and methamphetamine addiction.

“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 in a lab release. “This would appear to be true even if the obesity results from binge eating, as this disorder is characterized by eating patterns that are similar to drug-taking patterns in those with cocaine dependency.”