FOR RIMANOBANT, OCTOBER 24TH FEARS COME TRUE

In my 24th Oct 2008 posting, I wrote that the European Medicine Angency had announced that they were asking Sanofi-Aventis to suspend the marketing of Rimanobant in Europe. This morning, I received a phonecall from the Marketing Manager ( Rimanobant ) of Sanofi-Aventis Malaysia, to inform me that Sanofi-Aventis HQ has asked all their branches worldwide to stop the sale of rimanobant. He informed me that it is not a formal recall, but they have discuss the issues with the DCA Malaysia, and told them that Sanofi-Aventis Malaysia, will pre-emptively withdraw all the drugs that have been sold, and not used, re-pay the doctors and cease to sell Rimanobant. There is no directive from the Ministry of Health to recall the drug. Therefore anyone out there who wish to give back their Rimanobant, Sanofi-Aventis will take it back and re-imburse you. I do have a couple of patients on Rimanobant ( and they were both doing well on Rimanobant ). I have decided that I will not recall them. When I do see them on follow-up, I will tell them of this new development, and give them the choice to continue. But I will also have to tell them that I cannot buy any more Rimanobant from Sanofi-Aventis, and so it will only be a matter of time before they stop Rimanobant. I do believe that if careful and correctly used, Rimanobant can help my patients to lose weight and improve their metabolic profile. Looks like this is the end of another new "block-buster " drug.