sanofi-Aventis' experimental heart drug Multaq will be reviewed by an independent expert panel in the US next March, marking a delay in a priority review by the health regulator. The company said that according to some analysts forecast, Multaq could yield more than $ 2 billion in annual sales.
 
Multaq won a priority review from the FDA recently. Some analysts felt that this suggested a likely decision by the US healthcare regulator by the end of January 2009 or in the first quarter of 2009. The FDA grants priority review to new drugs that could present a safe and effective therapy where no satisfactory alternative exists. Michael Leacock, analyst, ABN AMRO, said, "It clearly is a delay, but given that it has increasingly become common practice by the FDA to delay reviews whether standard or priority it is not a surprise."

Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm in which the upper chambers of the heart beat in an uncoordinated manner, which can cause palpitations, shortness of breath and fatigue.