“Perth researchers will test a new anti-obesity pill on West Australians in the hope it will not only help them lose weight but reduce their risk of heart disease by boosting levels of HDL, or “good” cholesterol.

The Royal Perth Hospital study, part of an international trial, could prove the weight-loss pill rimonabant, sold as Acomplia, can help ward off the condition known as metabolic syndrome, a particularly highrisk form of obesity which entails problems controlling blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin.

RPH professor of medicine Gerald Watts, who specialises in metabolic disorders, said the drug was expected to be approved for Australia within a few months and the hospital aimed to recruit 15 to 20 patients as part of the 80 being studied worldwide.

“We’re interested in the mechanism of how this drug works and the role it could play in obese people who have several risk factors for heart disease, one of which is low HDL cholesterol, or metabolic syndrome,” he said. ”

“Sanofi-Aventis says that it intends to challenge in the courts the decision made by the German Ministry of Health which states that the firm’s anti-obesity drug Acomplia will not be reimbursed.

The Ministry of Health has upheld a recommendation from the German Federal Joint Committee, the G-BA, which said in October that it believes funding treatment with Acomplia (rimonabant) is inappropriate because it is a ‘lifestyle’ drug, a viewpoint which Sanofi disagrees with vigorously.

The French drugmaker has argued that Acomplia should be covered because it helps lower the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease, in addition to aiding weight loss. Indeed, Sanofi recently presented data from a Phase III trial of Acomplia which shows that treatment-naive patients with type 2 diabetes who received the drug experienced significant improvements in blood glucose control and weight loss, compared to those who took placebo.”