..will only reimburse them for about 1/3 of the price of the weight loss drug...

Just over a month ago Ukmedix News reported that the French medical establishment had decided to recommend that the new weight loss drug from Sanofi Aventis namely Acomplia was not to be covered by state health plans except in the rare case when somebody suffered from obesity as well as type 2 diabetes. Sanofi Aventis were hoping to have this ruling reversed and made a lot of fuss about it. They were particularly upset that their home country France had not given the go ahead for this new diet drug to be given to all obese people on a prescription from a doctor.  The same thing more or less had been done in Germany where the health authorities there decided that people who were obese would have to pay for Acomplia.

The French health authorities have also ruled that they will not be paying for the complete cost of the Acomplia drug even for obese diabetics but will only reimburse them for about 1/3 of the price of the weight loss drug. The health authorities also said that the drug is not to be prescribed straight away but must only be prescribed after the doctor has tried diet and exercise for his patients and must also firstly prescribed other diabetes drugs such as sulfonylurea and metformin before trying Acomplia.

The medical authorities in France were lobbied very hard by Sanofi Aventis in the hope that a precedent might be set for the prescription and supply of the weight loss drug Acomplia. It is unlikely now that any European country will pay for Acomplia on its national health plans as France and Germany have both gone against this. In the UK a special committee called NICE is looking at whether Acomplia should be given out free on the NHS or whether obese people should pay for it out of their own pocket. They are unlikely to give an answer for at least a couple of years until the drug has been tested thoroughly in the UK.