NICE backs Sanofi's Acomplia for obesity

The UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended Sanofi-Aventis' Acomplia (rimonabant), within its licensed indications, as an adjunct to diet and exercise for adults who are obese or overweight and who have had an inadequate response to, are intolerant of, or are contraindicated to other anti-obesity agents that have previously been reviewed by NICE.

In its Final Appraisal Document, the NICE which gives guidance on the use of therapies under the National Health Service in England and Wales, has recommended that Acomplia should be used for the management of obese and overweight patients.

According to the Paris-headquartered drugmaker, which is Europe's second-largest pharmaceutical firm after GlaxoSmithKline, obesity in England has more than trebled in the last two decades and the total socioeconomic cost of managing the condition and its related problems is estimated to be up to L7.4 billion per year ($.4.8 billion).