NEW HAVEN - Rhei Pharmaceuticals Inc. has licensed from Flamel Technologies, SA (NASDAQ: FLML) exclusive rights to market Asacard, a controlled-release aspirin, in the greater China region (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau). Flamel will manufacture commercial supply of the product at its facilities in Pessac, France. Financial terms of the deal were not made available.

"We believe Asacard represents a technical innovation in aspirin and we are excited to bring Flamel's unique formulation of low-dose aspirin to the China market," said Sylvia He, chief executive officer of the New Haven-based Rhei Pharmaceuticals.

"Cardiovascular disease accounts for more deaths in China than any other single disease state," He added. "The market is growing by more than 20 percent each year as the availability of treatment regimens come closer to those seen in the United States."

Added Stephen H. Willard, Flamel's CEO: "We have long maintained that Asacard is an excellent product that offers all of aspirin's therapeutic benefits while strongly limiting the side-effects that often accompany chronic use of this otherwise well-tolerated molecule. We are pleased to avail ourselves of Rhei's expertise in developing and commercializing drugs for the Chinese market, offering us an excellent opportunity to access an area of strong demographic potential."

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of mortality in Southeast Asia. In China alone, more than a quarter (27.4 percent) of all deaths are due to cardiovascular disease and there are currently more than 120 million adults with hypertension in China.

Rhei Pharmaceuticals is a venture-backed specialty pharmaceutical company with operations in the US and in China that acquires, licenses, develops and commercializes in China proprietary drug therapies based upon the unmet needs of the emerging China pharmaceuticals market. Chaired by former Neurogen Corp. CEO Harry H. Penner Jr. (BNH, May 1) Rhei concentrates on hospital-based proprietary products with a therapeutic focus on cancer, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, pain, anti-infective and other life-threatening maladies.