Sanofi-Aventis indicated on January 26th that the millions of obese and overweight individuals eagerly waiting for additional information from the clinical trials being conducted for highly publicized Acomplia (rimonabant) are going to have to wait another six weeks for the next update.

In a news release that focused largely on the company's 2004 financial results, Sanofi-Aventis said it would be reporting two-year results from the RIO-Europe trial as well as results from trials of the use of Acomplia to promote smoking cessation at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific meeting in Orlando March 8th.

With Sanofi reported still planning to file for initial regulatory approvals to sell Acomplia in the second quarter of this year, obesity experts are eagerly awaiting two-year results from the RIO-Europe trial for two reasons:

• To see if the RIO-Europe trial continues to support the highly encouraging two-year findings from the RIO-North America trial that created so much excitement about Acomplia when they were reported in November.
• To see if the RIO-Europe trial supports Sanofi's contention that side-effects from prolonged use of Acomplia do not appear to be a major issue.

Attention will also focus on Sanofi's report at the Orlando meeting of the first long-term data from its STRATUS trials, in which Acomplia is being evaluated for use in helping smokers break the habit.

Sanofi also indicated that in mid-June, it will present the first data from a separate trial being conducted to determine the extent to which Acomplia may be able to help diabetics.

The company said data from the RIO-Diabetes trial will be presented to the American Diabetes Association at its annual scientific meeting in San Diego June 16th and 17th.