French Sanofi-Aventis group, the world's third largest pharmaceutical company, reported on Friday an annual 26-percent rise in net profit in 2005 to 6.335 billion euros (7.54 billion dollars).

The group said at a news conference that in the fourth quarter of last year it had invested heavily in preparations for the launch of blood clotting treatment Plavix in Japan.

It is predicted later this year that the company will begin marketing the hotly awaited anti-obesity drug Rimonabant, also known as Accomplia.

However, the company suffered a setback over the drug last week when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates the drug industry in the United States, declined to approve it for use as an obesity treatment.

The FDA has refused to approve the drug for its secondary use as an anti-smoking treatment and demanded the company provide additional information, the group said.

"We still think that the product for its anti-obesity use will be launched before the end of the year and most likely in the second half," said Gerard Le Fur, a senior member of the company's laboratory.

The company's chief executive Jean-Francois Dehecq also said it had lost about 2.0 billion euros (2.4 billion dollars) in sales for the full year because of competition from generics, especially for allergy treatment Allegra, diabetes treatment Amaryl and DDAVP, a drug used to control urine production in patients.

The company also announced that it is planning to double its capacity in the next few years to produce a vaccine for ordinary influenza in humans.

Source: Xinhua