Friday's announcement follows a decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this month that the dieting treatment, referred to as rimonabant by the company, was unsafe and its sales should be discontinued in the United States.
The manufacturer, Sanofi-Aventis announced that it will now work towards submitting the rimonabant file to the FDA soon and will "undertake the necessary discussions with the FDA to determine the required modifications to its file." Results from some follow-up tests of Acomplia will be available in 2010.
According to FDA, the side effects of this anti-obesity drug, which has been authorized in the European Union, includes suicidal thoughts. The Paris-based manufacturer had previously forecast annual sales of 3.0 billion euros (4.0 billion dollars) for the drug.
Currently, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is reviewing data on the psychiatric effects of Acomplia, which has been authorized in 37 countries and is currently sold in 18. EMEA is expected to announce its conclusions at the end of a July 16-19 meeting.
