The chief pharmacist for Aetna, Inc., which provides prescription drug coverage for 8.3 million Americans, expressed very positive views about diet drug Acomplia (rimonabant) on Oct. 12th, giving rise to hopes insurers may pay for the drug for weight loss if and when it is approved for sale by the FDA.

"This is the drug we have all been waiting for," Mark Rubino, Aetna's chief pharmacy officer, told Reuters while attending the 2006 Obesity Congress hosted by the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute.

For the past year, Sanofi-Aventis has been attempting to position Acomplia as a treatment not just for obesity -- but for a variety of cardiometabolic conditions -- out of concern that health insurers might not be willing to pay for the drug simply as an aid to weight loss.

But Rubino said preliminary data on the drug seemed much stronger than that for obesity drugs now on the market.

"It looks great," he said.

Following FDA approval, Aetna experts still will conduct a review of safety and efficacy data before making a recommendation as to whether the insurer should cover Acomplia for weight loss.

But Rubino's comments -- made at a time when the status of Acomplia at the FDA is far from clear -- can only be viewed as a very positive omen for Acomplia.