The headquarters of Sanofi-Aventis is in Paris, France and is the world's number third largest company in the pharmaceutical industry after Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. Sanofi-Aventis is the number one pharmaceutical company in Europe.

Sanofi-Aventis is active in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale primarily in the prescription drug market. The ambition of the company is the pursuit of drugs that enhance the average person’s way of life. The main areas Sanofi-Aventis covers include: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, diabetes, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines.

About 100,000 employees work for Sanofi-Aventis worldwide which includes 33,000 in sales. The majority of Sanofi-Aventis’ staff is dedicated to research and development of drugs such as Acomplia, a weight loss medication that came on the market this year.

Sanofi-Aventis has its presence in more than 100 countries throughout the five continents and is committed to finding new compounds that bring hope to those who are ill. Equally it is committed to providing millions of patients with new, innovative and efficacious drugs to combat disease; they participate actively in making medicines accessible to the greatest number of people possible. Sanofi-Aventis was begun to develop drugs that would help combat diseases and further medical science hopefully helping to develop cures for age old illnesses.

The company’s research organization ranks among the best in the world and with 11,000 scientific personnel by its side and is a leader in major therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular disease, thrombosis, cancer, diabetes, central nervous system disorders, internal medicine, and vaccines. They are meeting new challenges every day.

A new age weight loss drug, Acomplia, is the latest to be developed by Sanofi-Aventis for providing relief to millions of obese people as well as smokers. This new drug is showing encouraging signs of being a promising answer for many people suffering from obesity and may be a real pharmaceutical help for smoking cessation, weight loss, metabolic syndrome, and HDL levels.

Sanofi-Aventis believes that in Acomplia they have found the answer to weight loss. The United States Food and Drug Administration is investigating the claims of Sanofi-Aventis but according to the company initial testing is showing great promise.