MCDERMOTT COLUMN: Drug company startup acquired

A month shy of its first anniversary, a small East Cooper pharmaceutical startup has been ingested. North Carolina's DARA BioSciences Inc. acquired Oncogenerix Inc. last week in an all-stock-deal that includes a long-term sweetener to keep the sellers engaged.

The buyout was front-loaded with slightly more than 1.1 million shares of DARA's common stock that were valued at $1.4 million Friday. The sellers will be entitled to receive an equal slug of equity after five years if the business hits certain key financial targets.

Oncogenerix, which will continue to operate under that name, was incorporated in Las Vegas last February. DARA said in a statement that the company is now based in South Carolina.

Oncogenerix describes itself on its website as a specialty "bio-pharmaceutical" business focused on brand-name and generic cancer drug treatments.

It owns the exclusive U.S. sales rights to U.K.-based Rosemont Pharmaceuticals Ltd. ' Soltamox, a government-approved oral liquid form of the breast cancer drug tamoxifen. The company's other niche involves sterile injectable toxins that have cell-killing medicinal properties.

An Oncogenerix official could not be reached for comment at its Mount Pleasant office Friday. A representative for the buyer also could not be reached.

One of the three selling shareholders is East Cooper resident and 30-year pharmaceutical industry veteran Christopher Clement, who was CEO of Oncogenerix before Tuesday's sale. As part of the deal, he was named chief operating officer and a board member of DARA. His two partners in Oncogenerix live in Ohio and Massachusetts.

DARA is a small publicly traded pharmaceutical development business based in Raleigh. CEO David J. Drutz said Clement "and his talented team will prove to be excellent additions to DARA and important contributors to our growth as a company."

Reach John P. McDermott at 937-5572.