Acomplia (rimonabant) suffered a new setback on March 4th when the social court in Berlin-Brandenburg upheld a previous court ruling that German patients taking Sanofi-Aventis's diet drug will not be reimbursed by their health insurers.

While Acomplia has been approved for sale in the European Union for almost two years, sales have been disappointing, in part because Germany's joint healthcare committee October 2006 classified it as a "lifestyle" drug and ruled that the country's health insurance scheme did not have to reimburse its cost.

Sanofi, which had argued that Acomplia should be covered under the state health insurance program because it also helps lower the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease, said it was evaluating its legal options.

But with this latest decision confirming an earlier court ruling in June 2007, which Sanofi had appealed, the French drugmaker would no longer appear to much hope of overturning the German decision.