Sanofi-Aventis, developer of diet drug rimonabant (Acomplia® / Zimulti®), said on May 24th it was "examining all legal options" in light of the emergence of three different companies offering generic versions of rimonabant in India.

The development puts Sanofi in the odd position of facing generic competition that could spread worldwide via the internet even as brand name Acomplia is just getting off the ground in Europe while still awaiting regulatory approval in the United States.

"We are evaluating the situation," the Sanofi spokesman said, while confirming that Sanofi did not submit an application for patent protection for Acomplia in India until the middle of last year. Thus far, India has not granted it a patent.

The news that a third Indian company, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, has developed a generic version of rimonabant came in the French newspaper Les Echos, which noted that India was not obliged under World Trade Organization rules to respect patents on molecules developed prior to 1995.

The patent for the rimonabant molecule was registered in 1994, according to Les Echos.

The other two Indian companies selling versions of rimonabant, as reported in the Acomplia Report, are Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. selling a version under the name Rimoslim and Zydus Cadila selling a version under the name Slimona.

"For the moment we are aiming only at the Indian market," a Zydus official, Ashok Bhatia, told Les Echos. "Later we intend to launch our product in other countries where the laws or patent regulations permit it."