Sanofi Drug for Heart Rhythm Disorder Is Approved

By Duff Wilson, The New York Times

The Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug Thursday to treat the heart rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation, which affects an estimated 2.5 million people in this country, most of them elderly.

The action was welcome news for the drug's maker, Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, which hopes the medicine will be a blockbuster and help replace declining revenue as drugs that now account for 20 percent of its sales lose their patent protection in the next few years.

"We're very happy to get the approval - it's the first major anti-arrhythmic drug in 10 years," said Dr. Paul Chew, chief medical and science officer for Sanofi-Aventis in the United States .

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