The world’s top two diabetes organizations have questioned the existence of a medical condition widely cited by drug firms, in a move that could hamper prospects for Sanofi-Aventis’s new drug Acomplia.The American Diabetes Association and European Association for the Study of Diabetes said in a joint statement on Thursday that “metabolic syndrome” -- which has come to be seen as a predictor of cardiovascular disease -- was poorly defined, inconsistently used and in need of further research.Doctors should not diagnose people with the “syndrome” or treat it as a separate condition until the science behind it is clear, according to a paper to be published in the September issue of Diabetes Care and Diabetologia.
